A coalition of grassroots organizations are protesting at Philadelphia\u2019s City Hall on Saturday afternoon, condemning the strikes and deposition of Maduro as an unconstitutional act of war.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s clear we have a lawless president. Regardless of what you think of the Maduro regime, this is not the way we handle these things,\u201d said David Gibson, co-director of Peace, Justice, Sustainability NOW! and one of the protest organizers. \u201cThis is gunboat diplomacy. It\u2019s wrong. It risks war. Who knows how many people may have been hurt or killed who are innocent bystanders in Caracas.\u201d<\/p>\n
The attacks are \u201can illegal action, according to international law,\u201d Gibson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re calling it an arrest. We\u2019re calling it a kidnapping,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Gibson said his group and others that have protested recent U.S. strikes on Venezuelan boats accused of trafficking narcotics are supporting legislation introduced in both the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate that would limit war powers.<\/p>\n
U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pennsylvania, applauded Trump and the U.S. military for a \u201cflawlessly executed mission to remove the illegitimate dictator Nicolas Maduro\u201d in a post on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cFor years Maduro\u2019s regime killed our children by flooding America\u2019s streets with poison, threatened our borders, and undermined U.S. national security,\u201d he said. \u201cI urge what\u2019s left of the Maduro regime to honor the will of the Venezuelan people and transition peacefully to rightfully elected leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n However, Democratic politicians from the Delaware Valley region criticized the attacks in social media posts Saturday.<\/p>\n U.S. Reps. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Delaware County, and Chrissy Houlahan, D-Chester County, shared a post on X<\/a> with a statement from Democratic Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, that called on the Trump administration to \u201cimmediately brief Congress on its plan to ensure stability in the region and its legal justification for this decision.\u201d<\/p>\n