What began peacefully, after an exchange with the authorities in the area, degenerated into vandalism against the headquarters of the municipal committee of the Communist Party, the state-run newspaper Invasor said of the incident. Unverified videos of the incident show protesters breaking into the office and throwing stones at a burning building. Shouts of liberty could be heard in one of the videos, according to the news agency Reuters.
Financial strangulation, as he put it, is the latest weapon in the government's escalating effort to clear the way for expanded mining and oil development in one of the world's most biodiverse countries. Months earlier, officials had temporarily frozen the accounts of several of Ecuador's most prominent environmental defenders, including Tapia, citing investigations into unjust private enrichment and financing terrorism.
In a hospital in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, in mid-May, Tewodros* was at work treating patients when two police officers barged into the emergency room. Earlier that same month, the doctor had participated in a public sector health workers' strike, protesting poor working conditions and low pay. The government had immediately declared the strike illegal, setting the stage for a tense standoff with the country's health professionals.
