In Caracas, national guardsmen in riot gear fired buckshot and swung batons at students who gathered outside the Supreme Court.
Pockets of protesters had blocked roads, chanted slogans and waved banners saying "No To Dictatorship" around Venezuela on Friday, leading to some clashes with security forces. Police moved them on.
The Supreme Court ruled late Wednesday that as long as lawmakers remained in contempt of earlier court rulings that nullified all legislation passed by congress, the high court can assume the constitutionally assigned powers of the National Assembly, which has been controlled by the opposition for almost a year and a half.
Some said they anxious that while Maduro has so far insisted on meeting foreign bond payments amid the economic collapse, a further escalation of the crisis may erode that determination.
Coming from a staunch supporter of Maduro's late predecessor Hugo Chavez, it was the strongest sign of divisions in the government camp since its standoff with the center-right opposition started in January 2016.
Not content with steering Venezuela into a downward spiral of hyperinflation, food shortages, and dwindling oil production, Maduro seems determined to drag Venezuela's democracy down with him.
Critics blame a failing socialist system, whereas the government says its enemies are waging an "economic war". The fall in oil prices since mid-2014 has exacerbated the crisis.
Ally Russia bucked the trend, urging the world to leave Venezuela alone.
"This clearly constitutes a milestone in recent political Venezuelan history", said Angel Alvarez, a political consultant. "We are confident in the principle of noninterference in internal affairs". Brazil, Argentina and Peru have all moved to the right recently. Meanwhile, some hard-liners called for the military, the traditional arbiter of political disputes in Venezuela and an important crutch for Maduro, to intervene.
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OAS head Luis Almagro, whom the Venezuelan government views as a pawn of Washington, has been pushing for its suspension from the 34-nation regional bloc, which has announced an extraordinary meeting for Monday to debate Venezuela.
"In Venezuela the only dialogue possible is the vote", Borges said.
"Nicolas Maduro made a coup", he said in his Twitter account.
Caracas-based newspaper El Nacional reported that several opposition officials and journalists were assaulted by government supporters outside the Supreme Court yesterday afternoon.
But the coalition is hobbled by disunity: leaders called at least four separate news conferences on Friday.
The ruling, misrepresented in global media as a move to dissolve the parliament, sparked a firestorm of criticism from the opposition as well as right-wing neighboring governments, with Peru and Colombia recalling their ambassadors.
Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump met with the wife of one of the country's most high-profile political prisoners, Leopoldo López, and called on Maduro to release him "immediately".
He said he "denounces the self-inflicted coup d´etat perpetrated by the Venezuelan regime against the National Assembly, the last branch of government to be legitimized by the will of the people of Venezuela", the OAS statement said.
Saturday's decision indicated that the government realized it had crossed a line.
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