Hooded youths threw stones and burned tires as police fired tear gas around the empty parliament building which had been sealed off. According to the government the payments had cost the country close to $1.4bn (£1.1bn) annually, according to official sources. Outside Quito’s parliament building, thousands of indigenous Ecuadoreans camped out on the grass, many of them carrying sticks. Indigenous protests have played a central role in toppling a string of Ecuador’s presidents, including Abdalá Bucaram in 1997, Jamil Mahuad in 2000 and Lucio Gutiérrez in 2005. “Rafael Correa does not have the moral authority to praise this protest when he criminalised social protest for us,” she said.

Source: The Guardian October 09, 2019 16:51 UTC