- Title: Indigenous protesters flood Quito, enter legislature
- Date: 8th October 2019
- Summary: QUITO, ECUADOR (OCTOBER 08, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ANTI-RIOT POLICE OUTSIDE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY TOP VIEW OF CROWD OF PROTESTERS GATHERED ON THE STREET BELOW GROUP OF PROTESTERS WHO HAD ENTERED THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY RUNNING AWAY FROM THE ASSEMBLY GENERAL VIEW OF TEAR GAS RISING FROM AREA WHERE PROTESTERS ARE GATHERED, MOUNTED POLICE ARRIVING OUTSIDE OF NATIONAL ASSEMBLY TOP VIEW OF PROTESTERS GATHERED MOUNTED POLICE IN FORMATION GENERAL VIEW OF BLACK SMOKE RISING FROM BURNING DEBRIS, ANTI-RIOT POLICE OUTSIDE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ANTI-RIOT POLICE WITH CANINE UNITS ON THE STREET, MOUNTED POLICE COMING IN FROM BEHIND TO JOIN THEM ANTI-RIOT POLICE OFFICER STANDING AND WATCHING GROUP OF PROTESTERS GATHERED BELOW GENERAL VIEW OF ANTI-RIOT POLICE STANDING OUTSIDE OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ANOTHER GROUP OF PROTESTERS GATHERED AT ANOTHER POINT ACROSS FROM THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ANTI-RIOT VEHICLE DRIVING PAST, MOUNTED POLICE IN THE BACKGROUND
- Embargoed: 22nd October 2019 22:40
- Keywords: Ecuador protests clashes National Assembly crisis fuel
- Location: QUITO, ECUADOR
- City: QUITO, ECUADOR
- Country: Ecuador
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Civil Unrest,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA001B08O213
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: LIVE U QUALITY. PLEASE MONITOR FOR UPDATE
Ecuador sought mediation from the United Nations or Roman Catholic Church on Tuesday (October 08) after six days of anti-austerity protests that have pushed President Lenin Moreno's government out of Quito and brought hundreds of arrests.
Following tactics that have toppled past governments, thousands of indigenous demonstrators flooded the highland capital. Some burst through security cordons to briefly enter the National Assembly, waving flags, pumping their fists and chanting: "We are the people!"
Elsewhere in Quito and other flashpoints, masked and stick-wielding protesters again hurled stones and battled with security forces, who responded with tear gas.
Facing the biggest challenge yet to his 2-1/2-year rule, President Lenin Moreno has declared a state of emergency and relocated government operations to the coastal city of Guayaquil where there has been less trouble.
Protests erupted last week when the government cut fuel subsidies as part of a package of economic reforms, in keeping with a $4.2 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan.
Indigenous groups and others have been barricading roads with burning tires, rocks and branches, while police have deployed armored vehicles and water cannon.
Nearly 600 people have been arrested, authorities say, including a legislator who supports Moreno's predecessor Rafael Correa.
Moreno has accused the leftist Correa, his one-time mentor and boss when he was vice president, of seeking a coup with the help of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro.
Moreno had enthusiastically backed Correa during his decade-long rule but broke with him after winning a 2017 election to succeed him, and moved economic policies to the right.
Speaking in Belgium, where he lives in self-imposed exile, Correa scoffed at the accusation.
"They are such liars ... They say I am so powerful that with an iPhone from Brussels I could lead the protests," he told Reuters, holding up his mobile telephone.
(Production: Alberto Fajardo, Guillermo Garcia) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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