- Title: Protesters and police face off in violent clashes over Ecuador economic measures
- Date: 4th October 2019
- Summary: QUITO, ECUADOR (OCTOBER 04, 2019) (REUTERS) POLICE IN RIOT GEAR WITH TEAR GAS WAFTING ON STREET ARMORED POLICE VEHICLE DRIVES DOWN STREET / POLICE / PROTESTERS IN BACKGROUND VARIOUS, POLICE FIRING TEAR GAS AT PROTESTERS POLICE VEHICLE POLICE IN FOREGROUND AND PROTESTERS ION BACKGROUND POLICE ESCORTING TWO PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN DETAINED POLICE IN RIOT GEAR WITH POLICE DOGS ON SIDE OF ROAD
- Embargoed: 18th October 2019 23:12
- Keywords: economic measures Ecuador tear gas violence riot Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno police Protesters clashes protest
- Location: QUITO, ECUADOR
- City: QUITO, ECUADOR
- Country: Ecuador
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001AZOOEO7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Violent protests rocked Ecuador's capital of Quito for a second day on Friday (October 04) after demonstrators have taken to streets nationwide over the end of decades-old fuel subsidies in a government fiscal reform package worth more than $2 billion a year.
Clouds of tear gas fired by police wafted through the streets of the Andean country's capital and protesters threw molotov cocktails.
Earlier Friday, Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno said he would "not negotiate with criminals" as authorities held 350 people in jail for unrest triggered by his belt-tightening fiscal package.
The 66-year-old president has set oil producer Ecuador on a centrist path after years of leftist rule under Rafael Correa and is implementing austerity measures to conform with a three-year $4.2 billion dollar International Monetary Fund (IMF) deal.
But Moreno's scrapping of decades-old fuel subsidies this week incensed many Ecuadoreans and brought violent protests in a nation with a history of political volatility.
(Production: Alberto Fajardo, Cristina Munoz) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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