Indigenous groups in Ecuador block roads to protest economic policies

Indigenous groups in Ecuador blocked some highways with mounds of earth and burning tires

Indigenous groups in Ecuador blocked some highways with mounds of earth and burning tires on Monday, kicking off what they said will be an indefinite protest against the economic policies of conservative President Guillermo Lasso, Qazet.az reports according to Reuters.

Indigenous and social organizations are asking Lasso for 10 concessions, including that he freeze gasoline costs at a lower price, stop additional oil and mining development, and extend deadlines for small farmers to pay off debts with banks.

Roads were blocked in at least 16 provinces throughout the country during the day, indigenous organization CONAIE wrote on Twitter, while the government warned of increased violence in protests in a number of areas, adding that demonstrations were smaller than expected.

Two marches took place in capital Quito, where police and students clashed near a school.

"We have had to resort to resistance in view of the national government putting in place more and more policies of death, which don't allow us to sustain our small economies," Leonidas Iza, head of CONAIE, told journalists.

"Mr. President, respond to the people on the most urgent, necessary and painful issues," Iza said as he stood with dozens of other indigenous people on a highway south of Quito, urging Lasso not to allow the International Monetary Fund to "impose" policy.