Demonstrators have filled the streets of Quito, Ecuador, for more than a week, after the government of Ecuador’s President Lenín Moreno doubled fuel prices by eliminating a 40-year-old subsidy, part of an agreement with the International Monetary Fund to secure loans despite the nation’s high levels of debt. The protests grew, and others joined by staging a nationwide transport strike, leading Moreno to declare a state of emergency and take the unusual step of moving government operations from the capital city of Quito to the port of Guayaquil.
Anti-austerity Protests and Strikes Shut Down Quito, Ecuador
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Riot police block a bridge between Guayaquil and Duran, in Ecuador, on October 9, 2019, as the country braced for mass protests against the sharp rise in fuel prices sparked by authorities' decision to scrap a subsidy. #
Marcos Pin / AFP via Getty -
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Indigenous anti-government demonstrators chant slogans against President Lenín Moreno and his economic policies during a nationwide strike in Quito on October 9, 2019. #
Carlos Noreiga / AP -
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