On 1 May 2017, hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans protested, attempting to march to various government buildings to have their demands met.
Police responded to the peaceful marches violently, firing tear gas, with one National Assembly member, Jose Olivares, being struck in the head with a tear gas canister, which led to heavy bleeding.
President Maduro announced later that day plans to replace the National Assembly with a communal national assembly and called for the drafting of a new constitution under a handpicked constituent assembly, the third in modern times.

The move by President Maduro would also allow him to stay in power during the interregnum, essentially nullifying the 2018 presidential elections, as the constitutional process would take at least two years.
According to Reuters, "Maduro's call ... to rewrite the constitution has energized the protest movement".

Hundreds of thousands of people marched on 3 May, denouncing President Maduro's proposed rewrite of the constitution.
The clashes between protesters and authorities left more than 300 injured and one dead; in one incident, National Guard VN-4 armoured personnel carriers rammed protesters who were rushing a group of guardsmen.
A video went viral of President Maduro dancing on state television while National Guardsmen were seen using tear gas on protesters nearby.
Reuters again noted that "images of a military vehicle running over a demonstrator ... caused further outrage", with protests continuing.

Opposition officials, on 5 May, draped a large banner down the side of the National Assembly's administrative building high above central Caracas reading "Dictator Maduro".
Citizens of La Villa del Rosario burned and tore down a statue of late President Hugo Chávez, an act compared to the destruction of Saddam Hussein's statue in Iraq as well as other instances of statue toppling during times of popular unrest.

President Maduro announced a plan of "a military constituency to deepen the Bolivarian military revolution within the very heart of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces" on 8 May, calling for the military to help draft a new constitution with the goal to "strengthen the union" between the military and civilians.
On 13 May 2017, President Maduro declared a "State of Emergency and Economic Emergency throughout the national territory" in the Official Gazette N° 6,298, creating the possibility of granting Maduro more decree powers and the power to temporarily suspend some constitutional rights.

On the 50th day of consecutive protests, millions of Venezuelans protested in Caracas on 20 May during the "We Are Millions" march, demanding an end to violent repression and immediate elections.
The day resulted in over 120 injured in Caracas alone, while one man was killed in Valera, Trujillo by colectivo members despite nearby police presence.

The same month, the investment bank Goldman Sachs purchased $2.8 billion of PDVSA 2022 bonds from the Central Bank of Venezuela.
In its original statement, Goldman stated that “We recognize that the situation is complex and evolving and that Venezuela is in crisis.
We agree that life there has to get better, and we made the investment in part because we believe it will.”.
Venezuelan politicians and protesters in New York opposed to Maduro accused the bank of being of complicit of human rights abuses under the government and declared that the operation would fuel hunger in Venezuela by depriving the government of foreign exchange to import food, leading the securities to be dubbed “hunger bonds.”
The National Assembly voted to ask the U.S. Congress to investigate the deal, which they called "immoral, opaque, and hypocritical given the socialist government’s anti-Wall Street rhetoric".
In a public letter to the bank's chief executive, Lloyd Blankfein, the National Assembly president Julio Borges said that “Goldman Sachs’s financial lifeline to the regime will serve to strengthen the brutal repression unleashed against the hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans peacefully protesting for political change in the country."
On 1 May 2017, hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans protested, attempting to march to various government buildings to have their demands met. Police responded to the peaceful marches violently, firing tear gas, with one National Assembly member, Jose Olivares, being struck in the head with a tear gas canister, which led to heavy bleeding. President Maduro announced later that day plans to replace the National Assembly with a communal national assembly and called for the drafting of a new constitution under a handpicked constituent assembly, the third in modern times.
The move by President Maduro would also allow him to stay in power during the interregnum, essentially nullifying the 2018 presidential elections, as the constitutional process would take at least two years. According to Reuters, "Maduro's call ... to rewrite the constitution has energized the protest movement".
Hundreds of thousands of people marched on 3 May, denouncing President Maduro's proposed rewrite of the constitution. The clashes between protesters and authorities left more than 300 injured and one dead; in one incident, National Guard VN-4 armoured personnel carriers rammed protesters who were rushing a group of guardsmen. A video went viral of President Maduro dancing on state television while National Guardsmen were seen using tear gas on protesters nearby. Reuters again noted that "images of a military vehicle running over a demonstrator ... caused further outrage", with protests continuing.
Opposition officials, on 5 May, draped a large banner down the side of the National Assembly's administrative building high above central Caracas reading "Dictator Maduro". Citizens of La Villa del Rosario burned and tore down a statue of late President Hugo Chávez, an act compared to the destruction of Saddam Hussein's statue in Iraq as well as other instances of statue toppling during times of popular unrest.
President Maduro announced a plan of "a military constituency to deepen the Bolivarian military revolution within the very heart of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces" on 8 May, calling for the military to help draft a new constitution with the goal to "strengthen the union" between the military and civilians. On 13 May 2017, President Maduro declared a "State of Emergency and Economic Emergency throughout the national territory" in the Official Gazette N° 6,298, creating the possibility of granting Maduro more decree powers and the power to temporarily suspend some constitutional rights.
On the 50th day of consecutive protests, millions of Venezuelans protested in Caracas on 20 May during the "We Are Millions" march, demanding an end to violent repression and immediate elections. The day resulted in over 120 injured in Caracas alone, while one man was killed in Valera, Trujillo by colectivo members despite nearby police presence.
The same month, the investment bank Goldman Sachs purchased $2.8 billion of PDVSA 2022 bonds from the Central Bank of Venezuela. In its original statement, Goldman stated that “We recognize that the situation is complex and evolving and that Venezuela is in crisis. We agree that life there has to get better, and we made the investment in part because we believe it will.”. Venezuelan politicians and protesters in New York opposed to Maduro accused the bank of being of complicit of human rights abuses under the government and declared that the operation would fuel hunger in Venezuela by depriving the government of foreign exchange to import food, leading the securities to be dubbed “hunger bonds.” The National Assembly voted to ask the U.S. Congress to investigate the deal, which they called "immoral, opaque, and hypocritical given the socialist government’s anti-Wall Street rhetoric". In a public letter to the bank's chief executive, Lloyd Blankfein, the National Assembly president Julio Borges said that “Goldman Sachs’s financial lifeline to the regime will serve to strengthen the brutal repression unleashed against the hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans peacefully protesting for political change in the country."
2017 Venezuelan protests