- Title: Ecuador hits sixth day of unrest over government austerity measures
- Date: 8th October 2019
- Summary: QUITO, ECUADOR (OCTOBER 08, 2019) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS PROFANITY*** GENERAL VIEW OF LARGE CROWD OF PROTESTERS GATHERED, BLOCKING ROAD WITH BRANCHES AND DEBRIS ANTI-RIOT POLICE STANDING ON BALCONY WAVING TO PROTESTERS TO BACK AWAY, FIRING TEAR GAS AT PROTESTERS GENERAL VIEW OF CLOUDS OF TEAR GAS BILLOWING OVER CROWD ANTI-RIOT POLICE STANDING ON TERRACE WAVING TO PROTESTERS TO BACK AWAY VARIOUS OF GROUP OF PROTESTERS GATHERED, CHANTING (Spanish) 'THE PEOPLE UNITED WILL NEVER BE DEFEATED', BLACK SMOKE FROM BURNING TIRES AND DEBRIS BILLOWING OVER CROWD CROWD RUNNING AS SHOTS ARE BEING FIRED AT THEM FROM POLICE (PLEASE NOTE, QUALITY FROM LIVE U) GROUP OF MASKED PROTESTERS ALONG WALL, BURNING TIRES AND DEBRIS IN THE BACKGROUND PILE OF BURNING DEBRIS, PROTESTERS THROWING ROCKS GENERAL VIEW OF PROTESTERS THROWING ROCKS AT POLICE, TEAR GAS SMOKE BILLOWING OVER CROWD PROTESTERS GATHERED AROUND BURNING DEBRIS
- Embargoed: 22nd October 2019 20:25
- Keywords: Ecuador crisis fuel clashes protests Lenin Moreno
- Location: QUITO, ECUADOR
- City: QUITO, ECUADOR
- Country: Ecuador
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Civil Unrest,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA001B08NU4N
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: LIVE U QUALITY. PLEASE MONITOR FOR RVN UPDATE. INCLUDES PROFANITY FROM PROTESTERS.
Ecuador's government sought foreign mediation via the United Nations or the Catholic Church on Tuesday (October 08), after almost a week of anti-austerity protests that have forced the government to move from the capital and brought hundreds of arrests.
Thousands of indigenous demonstrators have converged on the highland capital, Quito, and clashed with police near the heavily guarded National Assembly.
Facing the biggest challenge to his two-and-a-half-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.
Officials say the number of arrests has risen to 570.
Protests erupted last Thursday (October 03) 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 armoured vehicles, water cannons and tear gas in response.
Among those detained were a Congress member who supports Moreno's predecessor Rafael Correa, said Roldan.
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.
(Production: Alberto Fajardo, Guillermo Garcia) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None