Protesters release detained police officers – News

Indigenous protesters released at least six police officers held hostage in Quito, Ecuador, on Thursday night.

Earlier, they warned that they would apply ancestral justice to them if the security forces attacked the Ecuadorian House of Culture, in the midst of the crisis provoked by mass demonstrations against the country. economic adjustment ordered by the government.

"Outside, they tell us that the government is starting to send tear gas bombs, now our aboriginal leaders are not going to release the police because we need respect, they're attacking us, we're going to apply aboriginal justice." , added the president. told the news agency EFE Fabián Masabanda, native of the province of Imbabura.

Masabanda had warned that if the security forces attacked the area where they were, the House of Ecuadorian Culture (CEC), "we are not responsible for the life of the police".

The detention of the agents took place at a time when the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie) declared the "mourning" of the death of a protester at Wednesday's protests, as was the case. confirmed the mediator's office.

According to Masabanda, the police had been arrested "because she had begun to attack".

"We arrive in peace, but the government has brutally abused us," he said, accusing the police of "tear gas attacking" a neighborhood of the university where they spent the night. since their arrival in Quito as part of the demonstrations that have erupted. there is a week for the elimination of the fuel subsidy.

A journalist from EFE He found that the natives had forced the detained police to use their radios to ask their overseas partners not to repress the natives.

They were motorized policemen who were captured in the morning around the Casa de la Cultura, in north-central Quito, near which some of the riots took place this week.

Aboriginal peoples are asking that the forces surrounding El Arbolito Park, as well as this institution, move away to be able to leave.

Grouped in Conaiee, one of the largest indigenous organizations in the country, protesters arrived in Quito earlier this week to participate in demonstrations against the elimination of the fuel subsidy, decreed in the of a credit agreement with the Monetary Fund. International (IMF).

This resulted in an increase of 1.85 to 2.39 in "extra" gasoline (the most popular) and 1.03 to 2.27 in "premium" diesel and led to the rejection of unions, have been on the street since last Thursday.