By order of the President of Ecuador Lenin Moreno, the freedom of movement was restricted Tuesday 8 October between 8 pm and 5 am local (1 h 10 pm GMT the next day) around places of power in Quito. This curfew is the result of new incidents on the sixth day of demonstrations against the massive rise in the price of gasoline.

Lenin Moreno, who on Monday displaced the seat of government to the economic capital of the small South American country, Guayaquil (south-west), had already proclaimed a state of emergency for 60 days so that the armed forces could reinstate the country. order. This curfew will have the same duration.

Thousands of indigenous protesters broke into the capital, some of them arriving Tuesday afternoon to thwart security devices to briefly enter the National Assembly, waving flags and chanting "We are the people!". In other parts of Quito, protesters with masks and sticks clashed with security forces, who responded to the throwing stones with tear gas.

Big event Wednesday

For their part, thousands of natives and peasants continued to flock to Quito to participate Wednesday in a large demonstration alongside the unions.

Lenin Moreno, a 66-year-old Liberal, reached out to the natives and invited them to dialogue. His Minister of the Interior, Maria Paula Romo, then announced that the government accepted "a mediation of the United Nations and the Episcopal Conference" (Catholic Church), already working with leaders of the protest.

This small Andean country has been shaken since early October by a social unrest since 2007, marked by blockades of roads and oil wells in the Amazon, sometimes violent demonstrations and strikes. Production losses of state-owned Petroamazonas rose to 165,000 barrels per day on Tuesday, 31 percent of the usual figure.

Correa and Maduro accused

Nearly 600 people have been arrested, authorities said, including a parliamentarian close to Moreno's predecessor as head of state, socialist leader Rafael Correa. Moreno has accused Rafael Correa, his former self-exiled mentor of his own in Belgium, of trying to foment a coup with the help of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Rafael Correa, interviewed by Reuters, rejected the accusations, as did Maduro in a televised speech from Caracas.

For its part, the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie), the main representative body of the indigenous peoples of the country, has distanced itself from the former head of state and the violence of Monday. The Conaie "distanced itself from the putschist platform of Correaism (current of the former president), we fight for the exit of Ecuador from the IMF (International Monetary Fund) We will not allow those who have criminalized us during 10 years recover our struggle and that of the Ecuadorian people, "wrote this organization on Twitter. "The acts of vandalism reported near the (headquarters of) the Comptroller General and Parliament have nothing to do with our activists, our struggle will not be delegitimized," added Conaie.

Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and four other Latin American countries expressed their "strong support" for President Moreno on Tuesday. The Organization of American States (OAS), the European Union, the United States and Spain condemned the violence and called for dialogue.

With AFP and Reuters