Ecuador chaos as police revolt

Officers in the South American nation pushed President Rafael Correa and pelted him with tear gas and water when he tried to address them at a police barracks in the capital.

Mr Correa, 47, was admitted to hospital to be treated from the effects of the gas.

The state of siege puts the military in charge of public order, suspending civil liberties and allowing soldiers to carry out searches without a warrant.

Hundreds of officers involved in the insurrection took over barracks in Quito, Guayaquil and other cities. Some blocked roads with burning tyres, cutting off the main routes to the capital.

Schools shut down and many businesses closed early due to the absence of police protection that left citizens and businesses vulnerable to crime.

Looting was reported in the capital - where at least two banks were raided - and in the coastal city of Guayaquil. That city's main newspaper, El Universo, reported attacks on supermarkets and robberies due to the absence of police.

Hundreds of Correa supporters gathered outside the National Assembly, which was occupied by striking police.

The commander of Ecuador's armed forces, General Ernesto Gonzalez, later declared the military's loyalty to Mr Correa in a televised statement.

He called for "a re-establishment of dialogue, which is the only way Ecuadoreans can resolve our differences."

When Mr Correa confronted the protesters earlier, he was agitated and unyielding.

"If you want to kill the president, here he is! Kill me!" he told them before limping away with the aid of a cane as an aide fitted a gas mask over his face. Mr Correa's right knee was operated on just last week.

It was not clear how many of the police had joined the protest, which appeared to have arisen spontaneously.However, Mr Correa called the unrest "an attempted coup by the opposition", speaking to reporters by telephone from the hospital where he said he was hooked to an intravenous drip.

There was no immediate evidence the police uprising was organised by the opposition and no protest leaders emerged to denounce the government.

Mr Correa's ally and neighbour, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, claimed Mr Correa was "in danger of being killed" by police who were preventing him from leaving the police hospital where he spent all day after the morning tumult.

Ecuador's foreign minister, Ricardo Patino, said at one point that insurgents were trying to enter the hospital through the roof and called on supporters to march on the hospital to rescue Mr Correa.

"They are trying to oust President Correa," Mr Chavez said via Twitter. That claim was echoed by Cuba. Peru's president, Alan Garcia, said he was shutting his country's border with Ecuador until Mr Correa's "democratic authority" was re-established.