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Indigenous Ecuadorians continued to protest against high fuel prices, high cost of living and inflation on Monday, by burning tires and blocking access to the capital Quito on Friday.
For the blockades, the protesters used stones and tree trunks to cut off the capital.
According to authorities, protests and roadblocks were mounted in 15 of Ecuador’s 24 provinces with hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Quito alone.
Firefighters said a truck carrying demonstrators overturned in Quito, injuring many people.
Even though an Oil producer, Ecuador has been hit by rising inflation, unemployment and poverty exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.
Fuel prices have risen sharply since 2020, almost doubling for diesel from $1 to $1.90 per gallon and rising from $1.75 to $2.55 for petrol.
Indigenous people, who make up over a million of Ecuador’s 17.7 million inhabitants, embarked on an open-ended anti-government protest on Monday that has since been joined by students and other discontented groups.
The powerful Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie), which called the protests, wants the price reduced to $1.50 for diesel and $2.10 for petrol.
Conaie is credited with helping topple three Ecuadoran presidents between 1997 and 2005.
On Wednesday, President Guillermo Lasso is reported to have said the government was prepared to dialogue, “but we will not give in to violent groups that seek to impose their rules”.
Conaie leader Leonidas Iza, has in turn said the government was not making any concessions required for negotiations to begin.