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Ecuador protesters storm parliament building amid chaotic street demonstrations

© Reuters / Carlos Garcia RawlinsDemonstrators gather outside Ecuador's parliament building in Quito during heated protests over austerity measures, October 8, 2019.

Scores of protesters could be seen inside the national assembly building in videos posted to social media on Tuesday, some waving flags at the chamber's podium, with others chanting slogans against President Lenin Moreno, who has come under fire over a series of spending cuts and other austerity moves linked to an IMF loan deal signed in March.

Though police were able to keep most protesters away from the parliament with thick clouds of tear gas, several dozen managed to break their way past security and enter the chamber, which was empty after authorities evacuated government buildings in the capital city on Monday. They held a brief demonstration before pulling back, after which police regained control of the building.

A substantial police presence was seen in the areas surrounding the national assembly, where security forces clashed with demonstrators wielding stones, sticks and other improvised weapons. The police - some on horseback, motorbike, or in armored vehicles - responded with tear gas and billy clubs.

A larger gathering of several thousand met near the parliament building, defying Moreno's national emergency decree, which banned public assembly and put restrictions on press freedoms. Many of the demonstrators come from poor and indigenous communities across Ecuador, where the spending cuts have taken the highest toll, particularly the elimination of fuel subsidies.

As people continue to stream into Quito to take part in the demonstrations, now in their sixth day, the protesters are gearing up for a general strike on Wednesday, hoping to compel the government to act on demands to reconsider the austerity measures. They had planned to confront the president and hold a dialogue at some point during the protests, but Moreno relocated the seat of government to Guayaquil and fled there late on Monday.

Public schools nationwide have been temporarily closed during the unrest, along with public transport in the capital city.

© Reuters / Ivan Alvarado

After seven consecutive days, the expression of discontent has burgeoned into a general strike. "This is absolute chaos," said RT correspondent Nicolas O'Donovan, reporting from outside the presidential palace, where "the air is heavy with tear gas [and] smoke."

Though President Lenin Moreno had reportedly fled south to the city of Guayaquil earlier this week, where he relocated the seat of Ecuador's government, O'Donovan said the president had returned to Quito to "monitor the situation on the ground" from an undisclosed location.

That situation has been one of "extreme tension," O'Donovan said, with protesters equipping themselves with bricks, stones and even petrol bombs against a heavily armed police force guarding the palace. The officers responded with clubs, stun grenades and copious amounts of tear gas.

The Red Cross has suspended all activities in the capital city over safety concerns, including ambulance services, with teams of volunteers providing improvised treatment to dozens of protesters injured in the clashes.

The demonstrators, many hailing from poor and indigenous communities around the country, reportedly plan to remain outside the palace until dusk, though O'Donovan said some will stay overnight, defying a curfew order issued earlier this week. They hope the days of rage will convince the government to come to the table for a dialogue and ultimately reverse the austerity measures, namely the elimination of fuel subsidies.

"The people here say that the government is going to save the banks and big business instead of the people, and that's why all these people are here protesting," O'Donovan said.

President Moreno has remained defiant in the face of the strike, insisting he will not back down from the recent economic reforms, though his aides confirmed they were participating in preliminary talks with the protest leaders, mediated by the United Nations and the Catholic Church.

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• First in a decade: Yellow Vests end French austerity plans, finally

Austerity went on so long it was just viewed as unstoppable and vitally necessary - the idea of a spending program instead of spending cuts stopped being discussed after Marine Le Pen lost the presidential election. Emmanuel Macron's first budget was the 2nd-harshest in postwar French history.

Given these reminders, we should ask in 2019: How many millions and millions of people have marched in France in the past nine years to end austerity, either openly or indirectly?

They all failed - the Yellow Vests did not.

Furthermore, anyone who thought the Yellow Vests are useless have been proven totally wrong. The Yellow Vests have proven themselves to be more powerful than any other group - unions, NGOs, political parties, and also even Brussels, central bankers, the investor class, the mainstream media - because the French government ultimately bowed to the demands of the Yellow Vest demands and not those other groups.

The French government openly said that that a full decade of budget austerity was not possible in the context of massive social protest. No Yellow Vests? Tenth year of austerity, no doubt about it. Far-right Le Figaro's headline read, "A 2020 budget to not wake up the Yellow Vests." Make no mistake: the government did not derail budget austerity because they finally listened to the Yellow Vests, but because they fear them.

So... voila. The Yellow Vests ARE good, ARE effective, ARE anti-capitalist (at least neoliberal capitalism), and the previous 10+ months of repression have NOT been ineffective, 10+ months of sacrifices and risk have NOT been wasted, 10+ months of anti-mainstream democratic involvement have NOT gone unnoticed and unheeded.

Dozens of Republican representatives are set to introduce a bill to impose fresh sanctions on Turkey over its incursion of Northern Syria and attacks on Kurdish fighters.

Spearheaded by Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming), a group of 29 Republicans in the House announced they would impose new sanctions on Ankara in response to its operations along the Syrian-Turkish border, where Turkey hopes to establish a "safe zone" and clear away Kurdish fighters it deems a threat.

"President Erdogan and his regime must face serious consequences for mercilessly attacking our Kurdish allies in northern Syria, who incurred thousands of casualties in the fight against ISIS and helped us protect the homeland," Cheney said in a statement."If Turkey wants to be treated like an ally, it must begin behaving like one."

There has been a rare bipartisan anger in Washington against Ankara after it launched 'Operation Peace Spring' in Northern Syria as well as criticism of President Donald Trump who pulled out US troops from the area.

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