Agence France-Presse ( Google translation )
Quito

Some 1,500 Indians gathered Thursday Ecuador in Quito, after a great two weeks of walking across the country to protest against the policies of President Rafael Correa, whose supporters have also mobilized in the streets .

The event, organized by the main Ecuadorian indigenous organization, aims in particular to demand a legislation to regulate water management and protect the environment against the risks of a large-scale exploitation of natural resources.

"We're not here to create destabilization, but to demand laws that were not voted in five years," said Humberto Cholango, president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE).

The indigenous march, which began on March 8, traveled 700 km from the Amazonian province of Zamora Chinchipe, in the south, where the government signed a big contract extraction of copper with a Chinese company.

A thousand protesters arrived on Wednesday evening south of Quito, joined by 500 others from the north, before converging to the park of Little Tree, in the center of the capital.

"Never has violence is part of our culture, but if it is attacking us, we will react. Hope that calm prevails, "warned the president of CONAIE.

Denouncing an attempt to weaken his government, at least one year of the presidential election scheduled for February 2013, Mr. Correa, elected in 2007, also brought together thousands of his supporters to respond to this march.

The Head of State called for "dialogue" with the CONAIE, calling the initiative a "failure", referring to indigenous protests that brought together hundreds of thousands of people in the 1990s.

The Native American community, which claims to represent the third of 14 million inhabitants of Ecuador, has already brought down two heads of state, Abdala Bucaram in 1997 and Jamil Mahuad in 2000.

"Thanks to the cons-revolution. This is what we needed for that now nobody can stop us, "quipped a little later the head of state from the balcony of his office.

Mr. Correa, who is supported by other indigenous groups, still enjoys a strong following in the Andean country to have implemented social programs and conducted a renegotiation of contracts with multinationals.