The protest came just a day after Maduro's opponents staged a mass demonstration in Caracas calling for a referendum on removing him from office.
Late Friday, Maduro was in the Villa Rosa area, just outside the Nueva Espartcity of Porlamar, to inaugurate public buildings that had been rehabilitated in poor areas.
According to videos posted on social media by Maduro opponents, residents took to the streets, banging pots as they surrounded him.
"There are more than 30 arrests" carried out by Venezuela's intelligence service, tweeted Alfredo Romero, the head of Foro Penal Venezolano, a nongovernmental organization linked to the opposition.
"We are receiving reports of police abuse and unauthorized break-ins from Villa Rosa," another NGO, Provea, said on Twitter.
Communication and Information Minister Luis Marcano wrote on Twitter that the pot-banging "reflects what remains of the right," and accused local media of exaggerating the protest.
Opposition leaders criticized the arrests.
"Neither Maduro, bodyguards, nor the Casa Militar (security agency) nor the ministry can avoid the sound of pot-banging in a town that wants a recall election," tweeted Henrique Capriles, a former opposition presidential candidate.
On Thursday, Maduro's opponents claimed to have mobilized a million demonstrators in Caracas in the biggest rally in decades and vowed to hold weekly protests to demand a referendum on his ouster.
The government estimated 30,000 people attended.
The rallies come at a highly volatile time for Venezuela, where a plunge in prices for oil exports has led to shortages, violent crime and outbreaks of looting.
Maduro blames the crisis on the collapse of oil prices and an "economic war" by businesses backed by US "imperialism."
Analysts have warned of a repeat of the deadly 2014 clashes that left numerous opposition leaders in prison.
