Member Since: 5/15/2010
Posts: 8,120
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Crisis in Ecuador, Coup Attempt
Quote:
The president was led away in a gas mask after police lobbed tear gas at him
"This is treason to the country," says President Rafael Correa
A crowd jostled the president, who tried to calm the situation
Ecuador teetered on the verge of a government collapse Thursday, as national police took to the streets of Quito, the capital, and attacked the president over what they say was the cancellation of bonuses and promotions.
"This is a coup attempt," President Rafael Correa said in a TV interview a couple of hours after police lobbed tear gas at him.
Correa, who was forced to flee to a nearby hospital, said police were trying to get at him.
"They're trying to get into my room, maybe to attack me. I don't know," he said in a telephone interview with the state-run Ecuador TV. "But, forget it. I won't relent. If something happens to me, remember my infinite love for my country, and to my family I say that I will love them anywhere I end up."
A broadcast by the government's Ecuador TV showed mobs on the streets and clouds of black smoke coming from burning tires and garbage. Sporadic looting was reported.
Correa had taken to the streets to try to calm the situation but was soon surrounded and jostled by a crowd and forced to flee after the tear gas incident. Some of those shoving him were police officers in full gear.
Video from CNN affiliate Teleamazonas show a hunched-over Correa being led away as he covered his face with a gas mask. Correa, who recently underwent knee surgery, leaned on a crutch with his left arm.
A news photograph later showed him lying on a stretcher.
A government helicopter had tried to evacuate him but was unable to land.
He went on the air from a hospital a couple of hours later to denounce what he called a cowardly attack.
"They fired gas on us -- on the president of the republic," Correa said on the Ecuador TV telephone interview. "This is treason to the country, treason to their president."
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FULL ARTICLE: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/am...ex.html?hpt=T1
This is just sad, still happening in Latin-america. 
Right-Wingers wants to take down democracy!
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