Opponents of President Nicolas Maduro flooded Venezuela's capital in one of the biggest mass protests against socialist rule for more than a decade.
Dressed in white and chanting "this government will fall," hundreds of thousands rallied across Caracas to demand a recall referendum against Mr Maduro and decry a deep economic crisis in the South American OPEC nation.
The opposition Democratic Unity coalition estimated at least 1 million people took part after protesters streamed into Caracas from the Amazon jungle to the western Andes.
The opposition hoped its protests would prove they are the majority and heap pressure on Mr Maduro and the national election board to allow a plebiscite on his rule, as allowed by the constitution half-way through a presidential term.
But with the election board dragging its feet over the process and the government swearing the referendum will not happen this year, the opposition has no way to force it no matter how many people it brings onto the streets.
The timing is all-important because if a plebiscite were held in 2017 and Mr Maduro lost, his handpicked vice president would take over for the ruling Socialist Party, rather than triggering a new presidential election.
In power since Hugo Chavez's presidency from 1999, the socialists have hit a low ebb as falling oil prices and a failing state-led economy have left the country in turmoil.
Triple-digit inflation, a third year of recession, shortages of basics, and long lines at shops have exasperated many of Venezuela's 30 million people. The frustration led to a resounding opposition win in a December legislative vote.
Mr Maduro, 53, denounced what the opposition had billed as the "Takeover of Caracas" as a front for coup plans, akin to a short-lived 2002 putsch against his mentor Chavez, who died of cancer three years ago.
Mr Maduro has failed to replicate his charismatic predecessor's popular appeal, and his ratings in opinion polls have halved to just over 20%.
