- Title: ECUADOR: Tear gas chokes Quito streets as political tensions erupt
- Date: 1st October 2010
- Summary: CHILD AFFECTED BY TEAR GAS, CRYING
- Embargoed: 16th October 2010 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Ecuador
- Country: Ecuador
- Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVAE0ZTJZ7AANP6PX8D1V2IAI18A
- Story Text: Tear gas filled the streets of Quito on Thursday (September 30) as pro- and anti-government protests continued after a day of violence which saw President Rafael Correa injured as he accused rivals of staging a coup attempt.
The protests were sparked by government austerity plans.
At one protest in support of Correa, tear gas canisters were hurled and at least one man was injured.
A pro-Correa supporter said he was willing to die supporting the president.
"We are staying here with President Correa. If we have to die alongside him, we will. Ecuadorean citizens will understand that for democracy, for freedom and to destroy corruption, it is possible to give our lives," said protester Fernando Garces.
Ecuador has a history of political instability. Street protests toppled three presidents during economic turmoil in the decade before Correa took power.
Police led the protests on Thursday but some soldiers joined in solidarity.
Correa remained holed up in a Quito hospital with demonstrators outside. Clouds of tear gas could be seen around the building.
Witnesses said there was looting in Quito and in Guayaquil city, and many workers and school students were sent home.
Correa is looking at the option of dissolving Congress, where members of his own left-wing party are blocking legislative proposals aimed at cutting state costs.
More than half the 124-member Congress is officially allied with Correa, but the president has blasted lawmakers from his own Country Alliance party for not going along with his proposals for shrinking the country's bureaucracy.
Correa, a U.S.-trained economist, was first elected in 2006 promising a "citizens' revolution" aimed at increasing state control of Ecuador's natural resources and fighting what he calls the country's corrupt elite. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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