The measure, which affected the entire country, forced the closure of Mariscal Sucre Airport, supposedly to prevent President Rafael Correa from leaving, and caused blockades in several roads. In addition, the measure resulted in a wave of looting and theft against supermarkets and banks.

According to CRE Satelital Ecuador, around 800 police officers gathered at the headquarters of the Police, Regimiento Quito N1, where ammo is stored.

President Correa went there, and managed to open his way to the headquarters, where he gave a powerful speech to the police officers who were protesting.

Correa said that during his administration, the salaries of police officers had been doubled and that the proposal to remove their benefits responded to the need to equalize salaries and benefits for all civil servants.

With reference to the increase of the budget for the national police, the president said: “we know that we haven´t been able to solve all problems, but we are working on it”. Then, he added that his administration was working towards the well-being of all, and made reference to the demands by the police: “they should fight for things worth fighting for”.

The officers replied “That´s what Lucio said” - with reference to Ecuador´s Former President Lucio Gutierrez, who was in office until 2005. In response, Correa said that Lucio was one of the conspirators behind the protests, disguising an attempt of coup d´etat.

“I want to tell the press that these are the motifs behind what is happening, the conspiracies we have been announcing for long”, said the President, who then loosened his tie and shouted to the crowd that they could murder him if they wanted to, but his project would not end with his death.

“If you want to destroy the country, do it, but this president will not take a step back”, he said.

By the end of his speech, Correa was attacked by some of the police officers, and he had to be taken urgently to the Police Hospital. From there, in a communication with the state´s radio station, he talked about the possibility of declaring a State of Emergency, he said that the project started by him would not be suspended, and that some police officers were trying to break into where he was hospitalized.

“What I have to lose is my life”, he said, while his government issued a public call to mobilization to support democracy and protect the life of the President.

The opposition took advantage of the situation and demanded Correa´s resignation. Meanwhile, thousands of people gathered in the capital city of the country, Quito, to express their support to Correa´s administration. The protests by the police are not supported by high authorities of the Police or the Armed Forces, who said they supported democracy and respected the President.

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