Venezuela Prosecutor Condemns Office Siege

Venezuelan security forces have surrounded the public prosecutor's office in Caracas in what the chief prosecutor has called a "siege".

It came a day after the embattled government inaugurated a new legislative body, the 545-member constituent assembly, BBC reported. Chief prosecutor Luisa Ortega had asked a local court to halt the inauguration.

She cited allegations that the government had misrepresented the results of the vote that created it.

"I reject the siege of the headquarters of the public prosecutor's office," Ortega, a leading critic of President Nicolas Maduro, wrote on Twitter on Saturday.

"I denounce this arbitrary act before the national and international community."

Maduro says the constituent assembly, which is due to begin work on Saturday, is needed to bring peace after months of crisis sparked by the country's economic implosion.

But the opposition says the new body, which has the ability to rewrite the constitution, is a way for the president to cling to power.