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At least 30 inmates have been killed and dozens injured in a fight between rival gangs at a prison in the Ecuadorean port city of Guayaquil. A police commander said at least five inmates had been decapitated while others had been shot dead. The regional governor said it took 400 police officers to regain control of the jail, which houses prisoners with links to international drug gangs.
Sixty-two inmates have died in riots at prisons in three cities in Ecuador as a result of fights between rival gangs and an escape attempt, authorities said Tuesday. Prisons Director Edmundo Moncayo said in a news conference that 800 police offices have been helping to regain control of the facilities. Hundreds of officers from tactical units had been deployed since the clashes broke out late Monday.
Ecuador’s president, Lenín Moreno, has said he has moved his government from the capital in Quito to the coastal city of Guayaquil amid violent protests over the end of fuel subsidies. Images from Quito showed protesters hurling petrol bombs and stones, ransacking and vandalizing public buildings as well as clashing with the police in running battles late into the night.