President rescued from protesters

Protesting police at the entrance of their police base in Quito, Ecuador (AP)
12 April 2012

Soldiers firing automatic weapons and concussion grenades have rescued Ecuador's president from a hospital where he had been trapped by police rebelling over benefit cuts.

At least one security force member was wounded in the 35-minute operation in the capital Quito and the government said at least one person was killed and six injured in clashes on Thursday outside the hospital between Rafael Correa's supporters and rebel police.

After being spirited away from the hospital at top speed in a car, Mr Correa, 47, told cheering supporters from the balcony of the Carondelet palace that the uprising was more than a simple police protest. "There were lots of infiltrators, dressed as civilian and we know where they were from," he shouted. But he did not blame anyone specifically.

Mr Correa was trapped in the hospital for more than 12 hours after being treated for a tear-gassing that nearly asphyxiated him during a confrontation with hundreds of angry police officers who also shoved him and pelted him with water.

He thanked all his supporters who went to the hospital and "were ready to die to defend democracy".

The violence began when hundreds of police angry over the new civil service law plunged the oil-exporting South American country into chaos, roughing up and tear-gassing Mr Correa, shutting down airports and blocking roads in a nationwide strike.

At the hospital Mr Correa had vowed to leave either "as president or as a corpse". He also negotiated with some of the rebels, but the outcome of those talks was unclear.

Hours before the rescue armed forces chief General Ernesto Gonzalez declared the military's loyalty to Mr Correa, calling for "a re-establishment of dialogue, which is the only way Ecuadoreans can resolve our differences". But General Gonzalez also called for the law that provoked the unrest to be "reviewed or not placed into effect so public servants, soldiers and police don't see their rights affected".

The law, which congress approved on Wednesday, must be published before it takes effect and that has not happened.

Peru and Colombia closed their borders with Ecuador in solidarity with Mr Correa. Along with the rest of the region's leaders and the United States, they expressed firm support for him.

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