By Diego Ore and Brian Ellsworth
CARACAS, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Venezuelan security forces raided the headquarters of an opposition party accused of fomenting nearly a week of violent protests, witnesses said, as the country expelled three U.S. diplomats on charges of conspiring with demonstrators.
Presumed military intelligence officers burst into the opposition Popular Will party office and attempted to forcibly remove several activists after throwing tear gas inside, according to party officials.
"The intelligence officers arrived and began to harass us," said party activist Adriangela Ruiz. "They threw tear gas, took computers and tried to take away several people."
The government has issued an arrest warrant for Popular Will's founder, Leopoldo Lopez, 42, the U.S.-educated opposition leader accused of murder and terrorism in relation to the violent demonstrations of the past week.
He has been the main instigator of the demonstrations that have energized Venezuela's opposition, but show few immediate signs they will achieve their goal of ending the government of socialist President Nicolas Maduro.
Student protesters have taken his lead and are now promising to continue demonstrating around the country.
Videos sent to the media by Popular Will, which could not be independently identified, showed men entering the party's premises, waving guns and kicking down a door.
Students protesting outside the building then prevented the gunmen from taking anyone away, a party worker said.
Two government officials contacted by Reuters said they had no information about the incident and also did not have any way of making authorized spokespeople available.
The Caracas protests have been limited to mostly upscale areas, with little evidence so far that Venezuelans will join the demonstrations en masse across the country of 29 million people. Even so, thousands were out in the streets again on Monday.
Lopez, whose whereabouts were unknown, promised via an online video to hand himself in on Tuesday and called on supporters to march with him to the Interior Ministry.
"Let's all go dressed in white to one place. Then I will walk alone. I will not put any Venezuelan's life at risk," he tweeted on Monday.
PERSONAE NON GRATAE
After several days of blaming the violence on meddling by Washington, the Venezuelan government declared three U.S. diplomats personae non gratae, giving them 48 hours to leave the country on charges they were recruiting college students for the protests.
"They have been visiting universities with the pretext of granting visas," said Foreign Minister Elias Jaua, who often faced off against the police during his own days as a student demonstrator.