After Donald Trump’s invasion of Venezuela last Saturday, where sitting President Nicolás Maduro and his wife were kidnapped, hundreds across Britain took to the streets in the bitter cold of January to protest this outrageous act.
The UK is not innocent and has been materially involved in trying to topple the Venezuelan regime for over two decades.
From London, Cardiff, Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow and Edinburgh, correspondents from the RCP share reports from the ground.
London
In London, anti-war activists, trade unionists, communists and those who were simply enraged at the actions of US imperialism assembled upon Downing Street in freezing conditions on the evening of Monday 5 June.
The protest was called for by Stop the War, and included over a hundred from the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP), the largest bloc in attendance.
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A few hundred people were present throughout the demonstration, wearing keffiyehs and Venezuelan and Cuban flags. Many of them, mostly young people, expressed their shock and anger at this blatant act of aggression by US imperialism.
“The US wanted Venezuela’s oil, so they just walked right in and said ‘we’ll have that’,” explained one protester. “And we’re meant to accept that the US can just do that?”
On the green near the speaker’s podium, a few youths trampled on and burned an American flag, shouting ‘death to the USA’. More widely, chants were raised ‘Hands off Venezuela’, ‘no blood for oil’, ‘the UK is not innocent’ and ‘workers of the unite’.
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Fiona Lali drew crowds and gave a fiery speech denouncing western imperialism, and how the UK is completely complicit:
“At every single opportunity, the British government and the British ruling class have supported that. In 2002, when the CIA helped orchestrate a coup to try and remove Chavez from power, a Labour minister at that time…he said it would be like the fall of Mussolini!
The Bank of England kept and maintained Venezuelan gold, up to $2 billion worth of Venezuelan gold.
…Keir Starmer is a liar when he says he needs to wait to establish the facts…We know Keir Starmer is loyal to one thing, and one thing only. And that is US imperialism!
Keir Starmer is lying. He is following the interests of British imperialism, which has always supported the US in its relentless pursuit of regime change in Venezuela. pic.twitter.com/cJggDq3MoI
— Fiona Lali (@fiona_lali) January 6, 2026
Fiona Lali and other speakers such as Jorge Martin pointed out that the only friends of the Venezuelan masses are the workers and oppressed peoples of the whole world. The speeches called for mass collective action against the crimes of imperialism.
Aiman Suhaimie, Imperial College RCP
Cardiff
On Monday evening, around 80 people gathered in Cardiff town centre for a small demonstration called after the bombing of Venezuela and abduction of Maduro.
Many of the speeches rallied against US imperialism, capitalism in general, and spoke about the necessity of working class action and internationalism, and one or two condemned the Labour party and Keir Starmer.
A few speeches tended to simply appeal to international law but when the mic was opened up, comrade Lewis of the RCP helped to clarify matters:
“What is this rules based order?…We all saw what happened when the UN and the international criminal court issued an arrest warrant out for Benjamin Nethanyahu. Absolutely nothing. These are just the impotent faces of this so-called rules based order.”
Lewis explained clearly how America wants Venezuela to be a puppet; explaining “it’s nothing to do with democracy or drugs, but bare-faced imperialism, along with drawing out the history of Britain’s role in supporting US imperialism in Venezuela.”
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Neither the leaders of the “rules-based international order”, or international law can be trusted to solve any of this. It must instead be the working class of the Americas who mobilise against this act of aggression, alongside us here at home!
Roo Humble, Cardiff Communists
Newcastle
In response to the outrageous abduction of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, First Lady Cilia Flores, an emergency protest was held in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The protest was organised by the Stop the War Coalition for 5pm with 70 people in attendance.
Grace from the Revolutionary Communist Party gave a fantastic speech which was widely shared on social media, exposing the hypocrisy and imperialist aggression from America, as well as the complicity of the British state:
“The hypocrisy of this is breathtaking…it is yet again showing might is right, the biggest bully in the playground gets to set the terms, and everyone else has to accept what they say and what they do. Today, the British government have stood by and offered no resistance, no protest whatsoever.”
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Throughout, she also stressed the interconnectivity of the class struggle, highlighting the dismantlement of the NHS, the attack on the Palestine movement and the continued support for an apartheid state in the form of Israel as consequences of the same capitalist system occurring at home.
Gaelan Robinson, Ashington Communists
Glasgow
On Monday evening in Glasgow, an emergency demonstration was called in support of Venezuela, organised by Stop The War Scotland.
Around 150 people braved the cold to attend, including members of trade unions, the Scottish Socialist Party, and the Revolutionary Communist Party – among others.
The event proceeded with a handful of speakers who rightly denounced the invasion and highlighted the complete hypocrisy of US imperialism.
Positive calls were also made to build an “anti-imperialist movement”, linking the cause of Palestine and Sudan to Venezuela, although what was missing was concrete steps forward in how we can achieve this.
Aidan Hetherton, Glasgow Communists
Edinburgh
In Edinburgh, the communists were amongst those who responded to an emergency demonstration in solidarity with Venezuela, and against US imperialism.
At least 50 people braved the dark and cold in front of the US consulate to protest the blatant violence by the US and condemn the abduction of President Nicolas Maduro.
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Speeches exposed the hypocrisy of the ruling classes globally – including our own in Britain, with a well-placed hatred for Starmer and his Labour being clear in every speech.
Following the demonstration, the Edinburgh communists held a meeting discussing the history of Venezuela’s Bolivarian revolution and why this imperialist aggression was taking place.
Sara Al-Disi, Edinburgh Communists
Birmingham
On Tuesday evening, an emergency protest was held in Birmingham following the absurd attack by US imperialism on Venezuela.
Although small, the anger was palpable. A local Birmingham teacher made clear that, while he doesn’t support Maduro, “that doesn’t give the US the right to march in and run the country!”
He rightly criticised the British government for its double standards, noting it “rallies to defend Ukraine but stays silent when America threatens Colombia and Greenland,” adding that this “has nothing to do with democracy.”
Birmingham RCP
Bristol
On Monday, 60 people gathered at Cascade Steps in Bristol to attend an emergency demonstration called in response to the military strikes in Venezuela and the kidnapping of Maduro.
The protest was composed mainly of organised activists including Your Party and the Greens, alongside the Bristol branches of the RCP.
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Harsh words for Trump, the US, and Starmer were plentiful. Speeches condemned US aggression and imperialism, linking the example of Venezuela to other current and historical instances of violence, regime change, and resource extraction perpetrated in the name of the US hegemony.
Bristol RCP
