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Ecuador's capital partly
paralyzed amid protests
Thousands of demonstrators
brought parts of Ecuador's
capital Quito to a standstill
Wednesday after the Congress and
government failed to reach a
deal over control of the
country's courts.
Police fired tear gas to
disperse the opposition
protesters who chanted slogans
against President Lucio
Gutierrez and burned tyres on
the streets.
Quito Mayor Paco Moncayo, a
leader of the opposition
Democratic Left Party, has
ordered a suspension of the city
buses and closed all municipal
offices.
Ecuador has been gripped by a
political crisis since December
when the single-chamber Congress
restructured the Supreme Court
in a move which favored the
president.
The opposition condemned the
restructuring, saying there was
a breach in the balance of
powers and the move was steered
to fend off corruption charges
against the president's
political allies.
In a bid to ease the political
turmoil, Gutierrez proposed a
judicial reform in late March
that would replace the new court
and establish new methods for
selecting judges.
Opposition Congressmen tried
unsuccessfully on Tuesday to
achieve a majority to oust the
new court.
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