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Police, protesters clash in Ecuador's capital |
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Source:By Jason Webb |
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QUITO, Ecuador (Reuters) - Police clashed with protesters who blocked streets with burning tires in Ecuador's capital on Wednesday after the government and Congress failedto reach a truce in the struggle for control of the country's courts. Yelling slogans against President Lucio Gutierrez, several thousand demonstrators brought parts of Quito to a halt and paralyzed public transport. Schools and municipal officesremained closed and commercial activity was disrupted in the latest opposition protest to hit a major city. Riot police fired tear gas to disperse groups of opposition demonstrators shouting "Lucio, out! Democracy, yes! Dictatorship, no!". Congress failed on Tuesday to agree on a deal offered by the government to end the political turmoil that broke out when a temporary government majority in Congressreplaced the entire Supreme Court in December. Quito's mayor, Paco Moncayo of the opposition Democratic Left Party, then moved to shut down public transport and municipal offices. Police and soldiers guarded the presidential palace and patrolled the streets. Three policeman and a demonstrator were slightly hurt in Wednesday's clashes, Red Crossofficials said. Police made one arrest. Interior Minister Oscar Ayerve told Reuters he believed an agreement was close at hand. Congress will try again on Thursday to strike a deal. The crisis has unnerved investors and awakened memories of unrest that led to the ousters of elected presidents in 1997 and 2000. The United States and United Nations haveexpressed concern about government interference in the judiciary. Trying to break congressional deadlock that is delaying economic legislation, Gutierrez has offered to dismiss the current Supreme Court so that a more independentmechanism can be set up to choose new judges. Opposition politicians accuse Gutierrez of seeking dictatorial powers and of getting the new court to drop corruption charges against his key political ally Abdala Bucaram, whoreturned from exile in Panama this month. The critics say it is only now that former president Bucaram is safely back in his Guayaquil power base that the government and its allies are willing to let go of the control of thecourts. Bucaram and his party supported Gutierrez during a 2004 impeachment attempt. Ayerve said the new Supreme Court is less biased than its predecessor, which the government said was dominated by opposition parties. "The new court is a product of political agreements in Congress and also has political connections, although less than in the past," he said in an interview on Tuesday. Gutierrez's position also was boosted last week when the traditional arbiters of Ecuadorean politics, the armed forces, declared their support for him. The president, a former army colonel who won election in late 2002, has only five members of Congress from his own Patriotic Society Party and has relied on shiftinglegislative alliances to govern. Ayerve said resolution of the courts crisis was vital for stability. The president will benefit from a divided opposition and U.S. concern to maintain stability in an oil-exporting country which borders troubled Colombia and is home to the only U.S. military base in South America. Source: Reuters, via SwissInfo.org 14 April 2005 |
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http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=5683764&cKey=1113435326000 |
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Copyright © 2005 Journal of Turkish Weekly http://www.turkishweekly.net/news.php?id=8016 |