Protests by 1,000s of Ecuadorians meet with brutal repression

Police and military beat and tear-gas citizens demonstrating against government policies and reforms

Would you believe me if I told you that while president Rafael Correa was singing "Hasta siempre, comandante" with a band in the main square in central Quito last Thursday night just one block away riot police were tear-gassing and clubbing Ecuadorian citizens? Or that elsewhere in Ecuador the police have been reported to be specifically targeting female protestors' "intimate parts"?

Ecuador is currently in turmoil. Thousands of people are protesting proposed constitutional amendments, the expansion of the oil frontier, mining projects, changes to water and education policy, labour laws and pensions, a proposed "Free Trade Agreement" (FTA) with the European Union (EU), and increasing repression of freedom of speech, among other things. The government's response? To send the police and military with batons and tear-gas to beat citizens, make arbitrary arrests, raid homes and even - some people believe - to take advantage of volcanic eruptions by declaring a nationwide "State of Exception".