A group of armed men broke into the studio in Ecuador during a live broadcast and threatened staff, footage shows.
Guayaquil – In Ecuador, armed and partially masked men stormed the state television station TC in Guayaquil on Tuesday (January 9) during a live broadcast. As live footage showed, they took several journalists and other employees hostage. “Don’t shoot, please don’t shoot,” a woman shouted as shots were heard while men armed with guns and grenades beat people in the TV studio and forced them to the ground.
Gunmen storm live broadcast in Ecuador: “We have an injured colleague”
The live broadcast was not interrupted even though the lights on the set went out. About 30 minutes after the gunmen showed up, police could be seen arriving. “Police, police,” shouted a man in uniform. “We have an injured colleague,” said one man.
“They came to kill us. God, don't let this happen. The criminals are on air,” one of the journalists explained in a Whatsapp message to the news agency AFP.
Police said units in Quito and Guayaquil had been informed of the “criminal act” and had already arrived on site.
Drug lord breaks out of prison: Ecuador in a state of emergency
The incident came a day after Ecuador declared a nationwide state of emergency following the prison escape of a notorious drug lord. During the next 60 days, the military will be deployed in the country's prisons and streets, and there will also be a nightly curfew between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. Following the announcement, at least four police officers were kidnapped.
The influential gang leader José Adolfo Macías alias “Fito” escaped from the maximum security prison in the port city of Guayaquil on Sunday. Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa explained that he wanted to use the state of emergency to ensure that the armed forces had “full political and legal support” in the fight against drug-related crime.
Noboa was elected in October and had vowed to combat drug-related crime and violence in the South American country, which in recent years has become a major transit point for cocaine trafficking to the United States and Europe. (afp)
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