Eight women were violently evicted from the Chinese embassy in Quito and then detained by the Ecuadorian police when they were attempting to carry out a peaceful demonstration in protest against large-scale mining.
(Fundamedios/IFEX) – On 5 March 2012, eight women were violently evicted from the Chinese embassy in Quito and then detained by the Ecuadorian police when they were attempting to carry out a peaceful demonstration in protest against large-scale mining.
During the incident, police officers also pushed demonstrators, who were outside the embassy, and journalists of several different media outlets, who were in the midst of the commotion.
According to information published by Ecuadorian newspapers, the police forced the environmental activists out of the embassy and then struggled with them and dragged them onto a bus to take them to the Judicial Police where they were detained. They remained there for approximately eight hours until released. The DA’s office could find no evidence of criminal liability to accuse the demonstrators.
Meanwhile, outside the embassy, other demonstrators confronted the police and attempted to detain the bus in which the women were being taken away. According to the newspaper “El Universo”, some of them lay on the street to prevent the bus from leaving.
