Troops deployed as protesters turn Ecuador’s capital into a war zone

Ecuador’s army took to the streets after President Lenin Moreno ordered the first 24-hour curfew in decades in response to a day of attacks on government buildings and media offices.

By Saturday night, soldiers had retaken control of the park and streets leading to the National Assembly and the national comptroller’s office, which had been broken into by protesters who lit fires inside the building.

Downtown Quito resembled a war zone as plumes of tear gas clouded streets littered with bricks. Small fires burned and groups of people huddled behind walls and makeshift barricades for protection.

Moreno said the military would enforce the round the clock curfew in Quito and around critical infrastructure like power stations and hospitals in response to the day’s violence. It was the first such action imposed since a series of coups in the 1960s and ‘70s.

“We are going to restore order in all of Ecuador,” Moreno said.