During demonstrations, started by an Indigenous federation, roads were blocked and vehicles torched, and police fired teargas.

Ecuador has been brought to a near standstill after two weeks of tumultuous protests over a spike in fuel and food prices as global inflation inflames discontent over widening inequality across Latin America.

Ecuador’s powerful Indigenous federation Conaie began the protests a fortnight ago setting out 10 demands amid the spiralling cost of living.

Among them are a freeze on fuel prices, a moratorium on bank debts, subsidies for fertiliser and no mining in Indigenous territories.

It is the same auditorium that the movement occupied in October 2019 when nationwide protests over the slashing of fuel subsidies riled the country.

On Friday, Lasso declared in a televised address that: “Mr Iza’s real intention is to overthrow the government,” adding that the Indigenous leader “can no longer control the situation.

The government’s austerity measures – which include tax hikes and slashing fuel subsidies, part of a $6.5bn deal with the International Monetary Fund – have been worsened by the economic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic and the spiralling costs of fuel, cooking oil, bread and fertiliser, driven by global inflation.

The fuel prices have gone up, so all the basic products have gone up,” said Terán, adding also that people were angry at the meagre investment in health and education.

It doesn’t enjoy popular support,” said Maria-Paz Jervis, the dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law at Quito’s SEK International University