Protesters stormed Parliament in Ecuador

A group of protesters entered the parliament building on Tuesday, waving flags and shouting slogans before being taken out by police, witnesses told Reuters news agency. However, Parliament was empty of staff and did not meet at the time.

At the same time, reports of clashes between police and protesters come outside the congress building. Police fired tear gas at the protesters, according to photographers who were at the scene, AFP reports.

Ecuador has been shaken by protests since October 3. Then the government introduced several liberal reforms following an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to reduce Ecuador's deficit and foreign debt. Above all, fuel subsidies, which have raised prices in the country by up to 120 per cent, have created dissatisfaction and fueled the protests in the country - the largest in ten years.

The presidential palace in Quito has been evacuated and government officials have moved the capital and traveled 40 miles southwest to the city of Guayaquil, reports the EFE News Agency. Schools in parts of the country have closed.

The government opens for international mediation, for example by the UN or the Catholic Church. Or by domestic university rectors, spokesman Juan Roldan said in a radio interview, according to Reuters:

- The only way to deal with it is with dialogue and determination at the same time.

President Lenín Moreno accuses people behind the protests of exploiting the interests of the indigenous peoples to wreak havoc and create havoc. He also says that the protests are an attempt at a coup d'état by former President Rafael Correa and that he is supported by the Socialist government in Venezuela.

- What happened was not a social demonstration in protest of a decision by the government. This is a political demonstration aimed at crushing the democratic order, says Moreno, according to the EFE.

Rafael Correa, who is in self-imposed exile in Belgium, rejects these claims.

- They are such liars. . . They say I am so powerful that I could lead the protests with the help of an Iphone from Brussels, he says in an interview with Reuters.

An emergency was announced on Thursday when the protests started. This means that the government is allowed to restrict people's mobility, deploy armed forces and censor the media to stave off the protests.

The demonstrations were organized at the beginning by representatives of transport unions. Young people, students, left-wing extremists and people with different ideological backgrounds have joined. It is now mainly the indigenous people who organize the protests, according to the Foreign Policy Institute.

Leaders of the indigenous population, which is equivalent to 7 percent of the country's population, have said they will take part in the protests.

Over 20,000 people are expected to arrive in the capital on Wednesday to show their displeasure to the government, according to a representative of the Indigenous Peoples Organization.

One person has died and 77 have so far been injured in the demonstrations. The majority of the injured are people from the security forces, according to authorities.

Nearly 600 people have been detained.