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By Staff Writers, teleSUR
teleSUR
Tuesday, Jun 9, 2015
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| Demonstrations in the Shyris avenue in downtown Quito | Photo: El Telegrafo
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Opposition and pro-government activists staged demonstrations Monday, in front of Ecuador's governing Alianza PAIS party headquarters in Quito, the South American nation's capital. The protests came as new taxes on the wealthiest are provoking opposition from those most affected.
Despite beginning with a group of around 200 people, the demonstrations became gradually larger, causing authorities to block Shyris avenue, one of Quito's main streets. Protesters against the government carried black flags and chanted calls for ousting Ecuador's President Rafael Correa.
Some activists held banners protesting a new law passed by the government which increases taxes on inheritance for the wealthiest. Others held placards demanding “Oust the tyrant!”, against the regularly elected leader Rafael Correa.
Other opposition activists chanted “The country is ours!” whilst others yelled “Out Correa out!”
Meanwhile, pro-government activists rallied in support of their president and sang chants stating that the government would not be removed by forces who had repeatedly lost elections.
"They are trying to cause chaos and then blame it on the government (…) they have been coming in small groups since last week,” explained Florencia Pagliarone, an Alianza PAIS militant told teleSUR.
As President Correa was leaving the country, heading for Brussels, he warned through his Twitter account that the “same old people” were planning a bourgeois revolution. “(But) we are more, many more!” he concluded, urging his supporters to take care of the country.
By Monday both groups had grown significantly and were being separated by a group of policemen. Some clashes between demonstrators were registered with one Alianza PAIS militant beaten and injured by opposition activists, though no other major incidents were reported. As some witnesses explained, the opposition targeted the pro-government militants.
“They were yelling obscene things against us, vulgar things, and began burning Alianza PAIS flags, you cannot do that,” explained indigenous leader Carmen Tene. “They are from the right, they have always been like that. Indigenous people have been mistreated in the past by the right (right-wing governments),” Tene explained.
As police Colonel Enrique Jacome explained, police reinforcements were called after these incidents broke out, and protesters left gradually within the following hours.
“We called for reinforcements to defend the right of both the opposition activists and the pro-government activists (…) as you can see we are still protecting the people that are left,” he said, as he pointed at a group of 7 opposition protesters still left, yelling at a group of 50 pro-government activists.
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