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Two shot in Quito while ousted lawmakers meet

Two people were wounded on Tuesday by gunshots outside a Quito hotel where 57 ousted legislators met to discuss their fate amid a worsening political crisis in volatile Ecuador.

It was not immediately clear who fired the shots, wounding in the legs two people who were part of a small crowd gathered outside the hotel where the ousted lawmakers met.

The incidents reflected a deepening crisis in the impoverished South American country where the opposition has sought to block wide-ranging constitutional reforms leftist President Rafael Correa wants to implement.

Last week, authorities fired 52 lawmakers who had voted to oust the head of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal for calling an April 15 referendum on whether to elect a national assembly that would rewrite the constitution.

Another five were fired for challenging the tribunal's decision to call a referendum.

Critics claim the proposed reform is unconstitutional and inspired by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, whose dominant supporters at the National Assembly rewrote the Constitution in 1999.

The opposition lawmakers, who dominated Ecuador's 100-seat unicameral Congress, insist their ouster was illegal and several of them were involved in shoving matches with police as they tried to make their way into the building on Tuesday.

A number of the lawmakers eventually made it into the building, and two of them were reportedly wounded, including Jorge Romero who suffered spinal cord trauma.

Romero said he was beaten up by security forces, but police claim he hurt himself jumping from the gallery.

The congressional session that was due to discuss the political trouble was adjourned to next Tuesday for lack of a quorum of 51, although about 20 ousted lawmakers were included.

Outside the Congress, several hundred Correa supporters clashed with counter-demonstrators.

Police said several people were detained.

Last week Correa had urged supporters to take to the streets to make it clear to "the political mafias defenestrated by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal that there is no going back, that we will not allow any more abuse."

Correa, who was sworn in to a five-year term on Jan. 15, has said he planned to reverse free-market measures, renegotiate foreign oil contracts and cease doing business with the IMF.

No stranger to political turmoil, Ecuador has seen seven presidents come and go since 1996, three of them leaving amid tumultuous uprisings.
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