QUITO (AFP) – Police in Ecuador’s capital fired tear gas on Thursday to disperse Indigenous protesters who tried to storm congress, as the country’s crippling cost-of-living demonstrations left another three dead, according to a rights group.
The latest deaths brought the overall toll from the 11 days of protests to six, according to the Alliance of Human Rights Organizations, which recorded three fatalities between Monday and Wednesday.
Protesters had earlier won a concession from the Ecuadoran government when President Guillermo Lasso, isolating because of a COVID-19 infection, granted them access to a cultural centre emblematic of the Indigenous struggle that had been commandeered by police over
the weekend.
Later in the day, however, a group of Indigenous protesters led by women headed towards congress, only to be pushed back by police as violent clashes broke out.
Police fired tear gas, while protesters threw rocks, fireworks and Molotov cocktails.
“This is a very bad sign, given we asked our base to march peacefully,” said protest leader Leonidas Iza.
Thursday’s clashes, which spread to a neighbouring park, left a 39-year-old protester dead by gunfire, according to the Alliance. A young man died nearby, and in Caspigasi, on the outskirts of Quito, an Indigenous community member died during confrontations with the military.
The armed forces said on Thursday that members of the military providing security for a food convoy were “assaulted by a violent group” in Caspigasi, resulting in 17 soldiers being seriously injured.
An estimated 14,000 protesters are taking part in the mass show of discontent, with about 10,000 of them in Quito, which is under a night-time curfew.
Six of the country’s 24 provinces are under a state of emergency.
The protesters’ demands include a cut in already subsidised fuel prices, which have risen sharply in recent months, as well as jobs, food price controls, and more public spending on healthcare and education.
Ecuador’s Minister of Government Francisco Jimenez announced the concession granting access to the cultural centre earlier on Thursday, saying it was made “for the sake of dialogue and peace”.
The aim, he said, was “to stop roadblocks, violent demonstrations, and attacks”.
The protesters hailed the move.
“It is a triumph of the struggle,” Iza proclaimed over a megaphone, advancing on the centre with hundreds of others in a jubi-lant mood.
The Alliance of Human Rights Organizations said a 38-year-old man died on Wednesday in the southern town of Tarqui in clashes between protesters and police, whom it accused of violent tactics.
Dozens of people have also been injured in the countrywide demonstrations, which Indigenous groups have vowed to continue until their demands are met.
The police said the man had died of a medical condition that occurred “in the context of the
demonstrations”.
Two other people died on Monday and Tuesday, according to the Alliance, which also reported 92 wounded and 94 civilians arrested in 11 days of protests.
Officials said 117 police personnel and soldiers have been injured.
On Wednesday night, about 300 protesters occupied a power plant in southern Ecuador and briefly took its operators hostage, authorities said.
