Armed men broke into the set of a public television (TC) in Guayaquil (southwest Ecuador) on Tuesday afternoon, taking journalists and other employees hostage, according to images broadcast live by this channel
“Don’t shoot, please don’t shoot!” a woman shouts amid the gunfire, while the attackers, armed with pistols, rifles and some with homemade grenades, beat and force the terrified people to surrender to the ground.
One of them is hooded, the others wear hoods and caps. Still others have their faces uncovered or film themselves with their cell phones, while many of them make the usual signs of recognition with the fingers of both hands of the criminal gangs linked to drug trafficking who are unleashing a reign of terror in Ecuador.
“They came to kill us, my God protect us,” one of the captive journalists wrote to an AFP correspondent in a WhatsApp message.
Complaints can be heard in the background. Amid the gunfire, the broadcast of these surreal images continues live for several minutes, despite the lights on the set going out and the camera freezing. Until apparently the police intervened shouting “Police, police”.
“The national police units (…) have been alerted to this criminal act and are already on the scene,” the police said in a message to the press.
ecuador
2024-01-09 20:34:00
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