June 4 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuelan students petitioned the nation's Supreme Court to respect free speech, civil rights and pluralist media today, a week after President Hugo Chavez took the most-watched television network off the air.

Thousands of students marched through Caracas in a light rain, waving flags and banners emblazoned with the words ``persistence'' and ``freedom'' as office workers packed downtown sidewalks to cheer them on during their eighth day of protest since May 26.

``We're not coup-mongers, we're students,'' protesters chanted on their way to the courthouse, where about 30 student leaders handed over their complaint to the Court's president, Judge Luisa Estela Morales.

Student protests have breathed fresh life into Venezuela's political opposition following Chavez's May 27 decision not to renew the broadcast license for Radio Caracas Television, a staunch government critic known as RCTV. Political independence lends the students credibility in the polarized nation, drawing new support to their cause.

Chavez, whose supporters control congress and occupy most seats on its highest court, claims that RCTV incited a failed coup against him in 2002. The Supreme Court on May 17 dismissed a case brought by RCTV against the government in a bid to remain on-air.

The decision to replace RCTV with a new state-run, Chavez- friendly network has drawn criticism from U.S., Brazilian, Chilean and European lawmakers and from international human- rights groups who cite the move as a crackdown on free speech.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sparred today with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro at the Organization of American States annual general assembly meeting in Panama City, calling RCTV's closure anti-democratic.

Other students meanwhile flooded streets in favor of free speech in Venezuela's Aragua state, while others marched to file their own complaint with the state attorney general in Valencia, Venezuela's third-largest city.

To contact the reporter on this story: Theresa Bradley in Caracas at tbradley7@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 4, 2007 17:58 EDT