- Title: Pitched battles rage between protesters and police in Quito, Ecuador
- Date: 11th October 2019
- Summary: QUITO, ECUADOR (OCTOBER 11, 2019) (REUTERS) GENERAL VIEW OF PROTESTERS TRYING TO BLOCK STREET, THROWING ROCKS AND STICKS, SETTING FIRE TO DEBRIS ANTI-RIOT POLICE TRUCK BARRELS THROUGH STREET AND BARRICADES, ANTI-RIOT POLICE OPENS DOOR AND FIRES WEAPON ANTI-RIOT POLICE DISEMBARKING FROM TRUCK AND CLEARING AWAY DEBRIS AS THEY SET UP POINT OF OPERATION VARIOUS OF ANTI-RIOT POLICE ON CORNER GENERAL VIEW OF GROUP OF ANTI-RIOT POLICE WITH GAS MASKS TRYING TO CLEAR AWAY DEBRIS BLOCKING ROAD GROUP OF ANTI-RIOT POLICE HUDDLED BY WALL, FIRING THEIR WEAPON, TRYING TO ADVANCE ON PROTESTERS VARIOUS OF ANTI-RIOT POLICE TRYING TO ADVANCE ON PROTESTERS BUT THEN RETREATING GENERAL VIEW OF PROTESTERS GATHERED MEDICAL WORKERS RUNNING AWAY WHILE CARRYING INJURED PROTESTERS VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS TRYING TO SCALE BUILDING PROTESTERS HIDING BEHIND BARRICADE, THROWING ROCKS AND STICKS
- Embargoed: 25th October 2019 19:40
- Keywords: Ecuador protests fuel austerity measures violence crisis
- Location: QUITO, ECUADOR
- City: QUITO, ECUADOR
- Country: Ecuador
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Civil Unrest,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA001B0NNO07
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: LIVE U QUALITY. PLEASE MONITOR FOR FULL QUALITY UPDATES
Pitched battles between anti-riot police and thousands of protesters continued in Quito on Friday (October 11) as hopes for talks between protest leaders and the government dimmed following more than a week of unrest.
Indigenous tribe representatives from the Amazon in Ecuador also joined the anti-austerity demonstrations.
The protesters marched through the streets of the capital to demand President Lenin Moreno repeal a law that ended a four-decade fuel subsidy.
Moreno announced the measure as a key part of efforts to reduce the fiscal deficit, in keeping with a loan deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). But protesters say it has hit the poor hardest and will increase inequality in the South American country of 17 million people.
"Leave, Lenin, leave!" protesters shouted as they marched before clashes erupted in parts of downtown, where anti-IMF and anti-Moreno graffiti covered buildings.
The protests first erupted last week when truck drivers took to the streets, but indigenous protesters have since taken the lead, with villagers from the highlands walking and hitching rides to reach Quito.
Representatives of Amazonian tribes, many carrying spears, streamed into the city late Thursday and early Friday, adding opposition to oil drilling to a growing list of complaints about Moreno's government.
The unrest has already led Moreno to relocate to a coastal city and slashed the OPEC-member nation's oil production, after protesters seized some wells.
Hopes of a negotiated end to the dispute appear distant.
The government has refused to reinstate the fuel subsidy and says it wants "peace" before holding any talks with protest organizers. Indigenous leaders have rejected negotiations as an attempt to derail their movement and have called for an end to a police crackdown on protesters after four died in the unrest.
(Production: Alberto Fajardo, Guillermo Garcia) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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