STORY: Indigenous groups began on Monday (June 13) what they said will be an ongoing protest to demand President Guillermo Lasso freeze the price of gasoline, declare a moratorium on small farmers’ bank debts and limit oil and mining expansion in the country.

On Monday night protesters burned a patrol car and attacked police officers, extinguished a pressure pump in an oil field and damaged infrastructure in some flower farms, the government said.

Iza’s arrest on Tuesday prompted further protests, while violence rose in some parts of the country.

Hundreds of indigenous people arrived in Latacunga, south of capital city Quito, to support Iza on Tuesday afternoon. Other marches were reported in small towns with indigenous populations.

Ecuador’s police said officers had been assaulted and several of them detained by protesters in Latacunga.

Community and student groups were also protesting against Lasso’s economic reforms in Quito in the afternoon, culminating in an attack on a police car.

Lasso has said he will not allow protests to affect economic recovery and will punish any vandalism during protests.