Tear gas, rocks and fiery barricades as Ecuadoreans protest economic reforms

Ecuador's President Lenin Moreno declared a state of emergency on Thursday as nationwide protests broke out over the end of decades-old fuel subsidies in a government fiscal reform package worth more than $2 billion a year. As the fuel measure came into effect on Thursday, protesters set barricades alight and threw rocks at riot police on duty. Officers responded by using tear gas to disperse the crowd. Moreno had distorted the economy and protests would not be allowed to paralyze Ecuador. The government wants to reduce the fiscal deficit from an estimated $3.6 billion this year to under $1 billion in 2020.