New and tough clashes between indigenous and police in Ecuador | Chronic

The streets of Quito have once again been a place of confrontation between the police and protesters, mainly natives who have tried to reach the seat of parliament to protest the adjustment measures imposed by the government in agreement with the IMF.

Thousands of protesters who camped for more than a week in Arbolito Park, reinforced by the arrival of indigenous Ecuadorian Amazon, marched to the National Assembly region. (Parliament), an area subject to extreme security measures, decreed by "state of exception" said last week by the president Lenin Moreno

Some protesters wanted to overcome fences mounted by security forces to prevent them from passing, a context in which police fired tear gas canisters to disperse them, according to concordant information from the local press.

The clashes erupted before noon, when a crowd presided over by a front line of women approached the facade of the National Assembly and chanted slogans in Quichua to demand the opening of the passage.

A group of individuals apparently armed with stones appeared on one side and security forces began an intense charge of tear gas that dispersed the whirlpools in minutes, reported the EFE agency.

On Tuesday, a group of indigenous people managed to enter the main lobby of Parliament House and stayed there for a few minutes before leaving, without any vandalism being reported.

Since the outbreak of October 1, five people have died and at least 800 have been arrested at numerous protests in different cities of the country against Moreno's decision to eliminate a fuel subsidy, which has resulted in a sharp increase prices. For gasoline types with the highest consumption.

The severity of the protests led Moreno to declare the state of emergency and even to move the seat of government to Guayaquil, about 400 kilometers south of Quito.

Despite Friday's clashes with the police, most indigenous organizations said they did not want to fight with the security forces and that their members had spent most of the march standing up. Others have instead used sticks or other threatening objects.

Since October 1, when Moreno announced its measures, the natives, unions and social movements block the streets and highways, which creates problems of supply of various goods.

President Moreno said he was willing to speak, but made it clear that he would in no way reverse his decision to eliminate fuel subsidies.

The United Nations and the Ecuadorian Church have proposed mediation between the government and indigenous communities to reduce tensions, but so far the efforts have not yielded results.

The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie), which is leading the popular reaction, calls for the opening of a dialogue for the repeal of the measure removing fuel subsidies, the complete cessation of repression and the resignation of some government officials.

Conaie sent the government a letter in which he explained his conditions for establishing dialogue tables and exposing the mobilizations that had kept Ecuador under tension for nine days.

This letter requires the repeal of Order 883, which removed the fuel subsidy, an order that accompanied the Ombudsman's office on Friday.

He also called for the resignation or separation of the Minister of the Government, Maria Paula Romo; and the defense, Oswaldo vasethat communities have blamed for the violence of repression.

"As long as they remain in office, there is no guarantee that there will be a dialogue", told the Ecuadorian press the leader of the peasant movement Cotopaxi, Leonidas Iza.