- Title: Protests reach fever point in Quito, as demonstrators clash with riot police
- Date: 9th October 2019
- Summary: QUITO, ECUADOR (OCTOBER 9, 2019) (REUTERS) PROTESTERS GATHERED / SHOUTING IN STREET PROTESTERS FACING OFF WITH RIOT POLICEMEN AMID CLOUDS OF TEAR GAS ECUADOREAN FLAG BLOCKING VIEW OF STREET FIRE BURNING AT END OF STREET / PROTESTERS GATHERED LOOKING ON VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS WALKING / RUNNING DOWN STREET TO GET AWAY FROM TEAR GAS PROTESTER HOLDING UP BLAZING OBJECT (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER, SAYING: "We are going to fight until this man (Ecuador's President Lenin Moreno) goes because he is no use at all. We are all fighting. We are not talking about four Correa (former Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa) supporters but the whole of Ecuador which feels attacked. We have to work to sustain ourselves. All public workers are unemployed and they (government officials) earn a good salary but we only eat once a day!" PROTESTERS THROWING ROCKS AT RIOT POLICE PROTESTERS RUNNING AWAY FROM RIOT POLICE PROTESTERS GATHERED AROUND RIOT POLICE SEEN IN DISTANCE PROTESTERS SHOUTING (Spanish) "MURDERERS!" WHILE WAVING ECUADOR FLAGS VARIOUS OF RIOT POLICE WALKING TOWARDS PROTESTERS PROTESTERS BEING ARRESTED POLICEMAN PUTTING HAND OVER CAMERA LENS
- Embargoed: 23rd October 2019 21:38
- Keywords: Unrest Quito Ecuador protesters tear gas riot police
- Location: QUITO, ECUADOR
- City: QUITO, ECUADOR
- Country: Ecuador
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Civil Unrest,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA001B0DO47B
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: LIVE U QUALITY. PLEASE MONITOR FOR UPDATES
Protesters in Quito, Ecuador clashed with police in the capital's colonial district on Wednesday (October 9), at one point, a crowd of protesters were seen running down the street trying to get away from intense clouds of tear gas being fired by riot policemen.
Ecuadorean protesters held a national strike and clashed with security forces after President Lenin Moreno refused to step down or overturn anti-austerity measures that have triggered the worst unrest in a decade.
Businesses were closed from early in Quito and other cities during the shutdown, in Latin America's latest flare-up over unpopular structural reforms.
Violent demonstrations erupted in the Andean nation of 17 million people a week ago when Moreno cut fuel subsidies as part of a package of measures in line with a $4.2 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan.
The main indigenous group CONAIE, which has mobilized some 6,000 members to Quito from outlying areas, said Moreno's government was behaving like a "military dictatorship" by declaring a state of emergency and setting an overnight curfew.
(Production: Alberto Fajardo, Manuel Carrillo, Geraldine Downer) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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