- Title: Tear gas flies as unrest rages in Quito
- Date: 9th October 2019
- Summary: QUITO, ECUADOR (OCTOBER 9, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS RUNNING AWAY FROM TEAR GAS INDIGENOUS DEMONSTRATORS MARCHING INTO CITY DEMONSTRATORS HOLDING SHIELDS THAT READ: (SPANISH) "POPULAR GUARD" VARIOUS OF DEMONSTRATORS MARCHING INTO CITY RIOT POLICE GATHERED NEXT TO BONFIRE VARIOUS OF DEMONSTRATORS THROWING BACK TEAR GAS / TIRES POLICE ON HORSEBACK BONFIRE IN STREET MAN RECOVERING FROM BEING GASSED, RECEIVING HELP FROM PARAMEDICS GENERAL OF GATHERED PROTESTERS
- Embargoed: 23rd October 2019 20:05
- Keywords: Protests Quito Ecuador tear gas Lenin Moreno
- Location: QUITO, ECUADOR
- City: QUITO, ECUADOR
- Country: Ecuador
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Civil Unrest,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA001B0DO11J
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: LIVE U QUALITY. PLEASE MONITOR FOR UPDATES
Ecuadorean protesters held a national strike and clashed with security forces on Wednesday (October 09) after President Lenin Moreno refused to step down or overturn anti-austerity measures that have triggered the worst unrest in a decade.
Streets were empty of traffic and businesses were closed from early in Quito and other cities during the shutdown, in Latin America's latest flare-up over unpopular structural reforms.
Security forces fired tear gas to break up hundreds of protesters marching near the presidential palace in downtown Quito, the highland capital. Protesters were recovering from tear gas.
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: Ignacio Munoz, Cristina Munoz, Alberto Fajardo) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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