NEW YORK -- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro made his first appearance Monday morning at a New York courthouse after he was seized by US forces in his country.

Photos from US media show Maduro landed in Manhattan by a helicopter from a Brooklyn detention center and was placed in an armored car, accompanied by heavily armed law enforcement officers.

Protesters gathering outside the court were shouting slogans and holding banners writing "Free Maduro" and "USA hands off Venezuela."

US troops carried out a raid on Saturday to kidnap Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and flew them out of Venezuela, then put them in custody in New York.