Demonstrators demand better public services, political freedoms and the release of former presidential candidate Luisa González.
Students, social organizations and patients with kidney disease marched through Quito on Saturday to protest President Daniel Noboa’s policies, demanding better healthcare, increased funding for public education and respect for political rights.
RELATED: March in Ecuador Demands Release of Opposition Leader Luisa Gonzalez
The demonstration began at La Alameda Park and proceeded through north-central Quito toward the headquarters of the Council for Higher Education (CES). Protesters carried banners and chanted “Out with Noboa!” as they denounced insufficient university funding, formal unemployment and what they described as the criminalization of social protest.
Text Reads: 📢 Massive demonstrations are taking place across Ecuador in opposition to the Noboa administration. 👥 Students, social organizations, and labor unions gathered in various parts of the country, voicing chants and direct grievances against government policy.
Despite rain and cold temperatures, participants from social, labor, student and political organizations continued through the capital, stopping outside the Constitutional Court to demand respect for the country’s constitution before gathering in front of the Attorney General’s Office.
A central demand was the release of Luisa González, a former presidential candidate and leader of the Citizens’ Revolution movement. González was arrested on Oct. 22 and is being held in Chimborazo province. Demonstrators denounced what they described as political persecution and called for her freedom.
Patients requiring dialysis also took a prominent role in the march. Kevin Valdez, a spokesperson for the group, warned that persistent shortages of supplies for dialysis treatments were putting patients’ lives at imminent risk.
The demonstration also included confrontational displays directed at the president. A group of students occupied the Eternal Struggle monument near the protest route and burned an effigy representing Noboa. Demonstrators carrying red flags and images of Ernesto “Che” Guevara chanted slogans and made references to the president’s birthplace in Miami, United States.
The protests extended beyond the capital, with anti-government demonstrations also reported in Cuenca, in southern Ecuador. Social organizations, unions, students and citizen groups took part in a nationwide day of mobilization against Noboa’s policies.
From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.