Ecuador roads blockaded on fourth day of fuel price protests

Indigenous Ecuadorans used burning tires, tree trunks and stones Thursday to block access to the capital, Quito, on the fourth day of protests against high fuel prices and living costs.

Indigenous people, who make up over a million of Ecuador's 17.7 million inhabitants, embarked on an open-ended anti-government protest Monday that has since been joined by students and other discontented groups.

"We came to claim our rights because we are paid low prices for the products we produce," Nelson Jami, a farmer from the southern Cotopaxi province, said  at a blockade south of Quito.

Protests and roadblocks were registered Thursday in 15 of Ecuador's 24 provinces, authorities said, with hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Quito alone.

Firefighters said a truck carrying demonstrators overturned in Quito Thursday, injuring 12 people.

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 (3.8 litres) and rising from $1.75 to $2.55 for petrol.

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.