A live broadcast by Ecuadorean television station TC was interrupted by a group of armed people who forced staff to lie and sit on the floor, as shots and yelling were heard. The country’s president has declared 22 gangs as terrorist organizations and said that the country is in a state of “internal armed conflict”.
The people, wearing balaclavas and largely dressed in black, were seen wielding large guns and accosting huddled staffers on the live feed, which eventually cut out on Tuesday. It is unclear if any station personnel were injured.
Some of the invaders gestured at the camera and someone could be heard yelling “no police”.
Another channel showed images of police outside TC’s studios in Guayaquil, a coastal city that has been plagued by
surging violence over the last several years as narcotrafficking groups step up operations in the once relatively peaceful South American nation.
“I am still in shock” Alina Manrique, the head of news for TC Television who says she had a gun pointed to her head during the incident, told The Associated Press.
“Everything has collapsed …. All I know is that its time to leave this country and go very far away.”
Ecuador’s national police said on social media that its specialized units had been deployed to the site, and police confirmed that 13 arrests had been made. The national police posted images of several men with their hands zip-tied behind their backs, stating that they were captured in their intervention at the studio.
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