Police in Ecuador say about 1,000 protesters attacked and destroyed much of a police station in Otavalo, marking one of the most violent flare-ups in the country’s protests over the diesel price increase.
AP reported, in Spanish, that the attack targeted a police station and vehicles in the largely Indigenous city in Imbabura province. The violence left two police officers injured and caused damage to police judicial facilities, officers’ homes, and vehicles. Four motorcycles were also reported stolen, while police and civilian vehicles were burned.
The scale of the attack is significant because it shows how rapidly the protest movement can turn from road blockades and slogans into direct confrontation with state security assets. Otavalo is roughly 60 kilometers north of Quito, placing the unrest close enough to the capital to matter nationally while still rooted in a local and regional grievance.
The protest wave is tied to the recent elimination of a diesel subsidy, a move that pushed fuel prices higher and triggered anger from unions, students, social organizations, and Indigenous groups. AP’s reporting places the Otavalo attack inside that wider campaign, which began with transportation stoppages and expanded into a national strike and road blockades.
The response from Indigenous organizations was more political than operational in the excerpt. The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities said on Facebook that it denounced violent repression against mobilized communities in Otavalo and other territories on the first day of the national strike. That suggests the movement views the confrontation as part of a broader clash with the government, not as an isolated riot.
The government, led by President Daniel Noboa, has tried to soften the fuel-price shock with support measures for transport and agriculture, but the protests show that compensation packages have not eliminated the backlash. The diesel subsidy had been worth about $1.1 billion, and its removal raised the per-gallon cost from $1.80 to $2.80, according to the AP report’s broader context.
That economic change has clearly become politically explosive. In Otavalo, the dispute is no longer just about transport costs or budget discipline. It has become about police stations burning, homes being damaged, and whether the state can contain unrest without deepening resentment.
The information available so far does not show how the unrest will evolve or whether the violence will spread further. But the event date marks a serious escalation in a protest movement already reshaping the political atmosphere in Ecuador.
