Caracas, May 3 (RHC)-- Venezuelan opposition leaders have called on their supporters to block all roads in their neighborhoods as a way of rejecting President Nicolas Maduro's call for a national constituent assembly, a process to bring together social and other organizations to rewrite the the country's 1999 constitution. 

The proposal was presented by the president on May Day as an attempt to ease political tensions after opposition and pro-government supporters have taken to the streets in near-daily protests for the past month. 

But the opposition slammed Maduro's announcement as a "coup," claiming that it would consolidate “one more constitutional fraud” and called for people to rebel in the streets in a fresh round of protests.  Opposition leader Henrique Capriles warned that Maduro's opponents will continue to organize against the government. 

In recent weeks, waves of protests have resulted in a number of violent incidents that have led to the deaths of more than two dozen people with hundreds more injured.  Amid the protests, public institutions including schools and hospitals sustained damages and many small businesses were looted.