Thousands of indigenous protesters have converged on Ecuador’s capital after anti-government demonstrations and clashes prompted the president to move his besieged administration out of Quito.
On Tuesday afternoon, one group of protesters burst through security lines and briefly surged into the country’s National Assembly, before they were forced out by police firing tear gas. The legislature was not sitting at the time.
Elsewhere, masked and stick-wielding protesters hurled stones and battled with security forces, who responded with tear gas.
The South American country of 17 million appeared to be at a dangerous impasse, paralyzed by a lack of public transport and blockaded roads that were taking a toll on an already vulnerable economy.
Violence has persisted since last week when Lenín Moreno’s decision to cut subsidies led to a sharp increase in fuel prices. Several oil wells ceased production totaling 65,000 barrels daily because protesters seized installations, the energy ministry said.
On Monday, police abandoned an armored vehicle to protesters who set it on fire. Elsewhere, rioters smashed car windows, broke into shops and confronted security forces who fired tear gas to try to disperse swelling crowds.
Some video footage has shown police beating protesters on the ground. Opponents have accused the Ecuador president’s government of human rights abuses in its attempts to quell disturbances.
Moreno met with cabinet ministers in Guayaquil on Tuesday after moving government operations there from Quito because of security problems. In comments broadcast by the Ecuavisa television network, he said he had the support of Ecuador’s institutions and thanked them “for their defense of the democratic system”.
In a televised addressed late Monday, he said he had been the target of a coup attempt, but would not back down from his decision to cut the subsidies. The cuts were among measures announced as part of a $4.2bn funding plan with the International Monetary Fund, which said the package will strengthen Ecuador’s economy and generate jobs.
Several military commanders in uniform stood behind Moreno during his address, underscoring the armed forces’ support.
Moreno called for dialogue to resolve the crisis, but he also claimed that his leftist predecessor – and former political patron – Rafael Correa, is trying to destabilize Ecuador with the help of Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s president. Ecuador is among dozens of nations calling for Maduro to leave office.
Correa and Moreno have traded allegations of corruption in recent months, and Correa says he and his allies are victims of political persecution.
Some 570 people have been arrested for crimes including attacks on people as well as public and private property, according to Juan Sebastián Roldán, the president’s private secretary.
“What we’re going through is not a peaceful mobilization, it’s delinquency and vandalism,” Roldán said on Twitter.
The government last week declared a state of emergency, allowing it to curb some civil liberties as it tries to restore order.
The disturbances have spread from transport workers to students to indigenous demonstrators, an ominous turn for the government. Indigenous protesters played a major role in the 2005 resignation of Ecuador’s president at the time, Lucio Gutiérrez, though the military’s tacit approval was key to his removal.
The country’s biggest indigenous group, the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador – which also had mounted protests against Correa – said Moreno’s government had failed to address protesters’ concerns and the welfare of Ecuador’s “most vulnerable” people.
“Troops and police who approach indigenous territories will be detained and subjected to indigenous justice,” the group said in a statement.