‘Absolute chaos’ as thousands protest in Ecuador’s capital, braving tear gas and clashes with police
10 Oct, 2019
Tens of thousands of protesters have surrounded the presidential palace in Quito, where Lenin Moreno returned after fleeing. Demonstrations sparked by spending cuts linked to an IMF loan have led to violent clashes over the week.
After seven consecutive days, the expression of discontent has burgeoned into a general strike. “This is a national strike and what we’ve seen here on the front line is absolute chaos,” said RT correspondent Nicolas O’Donovan, reporting from outside the presidential palace, where “the air is heavy with tear gas [and] smoke.”
Read more at https://www.rt.com/news/470576-ecuador-protests-moreno-returns/
Violent protests in Ecuador force government to move
Ecuador’s president, Lenín Moreno, has moved his government from the capital in Quito to the port city of Guayaquil amid violent protests over the end of fuel subsidies. Images from Quito showed protesters hurling petrol bombs and stones as well as setting up barricades with burning tyres and branches. There have also been clashes with police since the unrest erupted last week.
The president faces anger from indigenous groups and others who blocked some roads including a main highway into the capital
Read more at https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2019/oct/08/violent-protests-in-ecuador-force-government-to-move-video
Ecuador: Demonstrators clash with riot police in Guayaquil
October 10, 2019
Groups of demonstrators clashed with riot police in Guayaquil on Wednesday, amid protests gathered by different social organizations in rejection of the economic reforms ordered by President Lenin Moreno. Footage shows the demonstrators confronting the police. Security personnel on motorcycles, riding horses, and the riot squad were deployed to dissolve the massive protest.
Read more at https://ruptly.tv/en/videos/20191010-002
Ecuador protesters storm parliament building amid chaotic street demonstrations
8 Oct, 2019
Amid heated demonstrations and clashes with armor-clad riot police over new austerity measures, protesters stormed Ecuador’s parliament building – left empty after the government relocated – for a brief rally.
Scores of protesters could be seen inside the national assembly building in videos posted to social media on Tuesday, some waving flags at the chamber’s podium, with others chanting slogans against President Lenin Moreno, who has come under fire over a series of spending cuts and other austerity moves linked to an IMF loan deal signed in March.
Read more at https://www.rt.com/news/470479-ecuador-protesters-storm-parliament/
Ecuador’s president retreats from capital in face of growing mass protests
By Andrea Lobo
9 October 2019
In the face of a continuing strike and a mass indigenous mobilization against an IMF-dictated austerity package, Ecuador’s President Lenín Moreno moved his government from the capital of Quito to the coastal city of Guayaquil, where he is now directing a police-state crackdown.
This retreat from Ecuador’s Andean capital, unprecedented in the country’s history, is a measure of the intensity of social and political unrest as Ecuador enters a second week of demonstrations against the draconian austerity program unveiled by the Moreno government on October 1.
Read more at https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/10/09
