Ecuador military says will repress price protests
  
QUITO, Ecuador, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Ecuador's high military command labeled 
the recent rash of protests against government-mandated price increases as 
leaning towards "subversion" and said that  the military and police will 
repress any attempts to destabilize the government. 

"Certain political movements or social groups, with the pretext of demanding 
that the latest economic measures be repealed, have threatened to execute 
popular uprisings that intend to overthrow the legally instated government," 
the chief of Ecuador's High Military Command, Admiral Miguel Saona, told 
reporters on Tuesday. 

For the past three weeks, students, teachers and union groups have taken to 
the streets to protest against a 75 percent bus fare increase and 25 percent 
gasoline price hike mandated by the government at the end of December. 

Union and Indian organization have planned protests for the coming three 
weeks that include marches, road blockades and a national strike. 

Ecuador, an Andean nation of 12.4 million people, has sought to consolidate 
democratic stability since former president Jamil Mahuad was overthrown in a 
military and Indian uprising on Jan. 21, 2000. The nation has had four 
presidents in the past four years. 

While the protests have been small compared with the masses of Ecuadoreans 
that descended on the presidential palace a year ago, high school and 
university students have begun to use Molotov cocktails, dynamite and even 
pistols against police, who respond with tear gas. 

Teenagers covering their faces with tee-shirts have aimed pistols at the 
police who have remained outside the public central University for the past 
three weeks, protecting themselves with tear gas and plastic shields. The 
university is a common place for student protests, as officers are not 
permitted on campus. 

More than 2,000 high school students marched through the northern section of 
Quito on Tuesday morning. They were dispersed by the police near Carolina 
Park in the capital's banking district. 

"The forces of order rejects groups that intend to re-edit another January 
21," Saona said. 

The military command asked Ecuadoreans to refrain from any protests that are 
not legally authorized, adding that anyone who "incites subversion and chaos" 
will be immediately arrested and sent before a judge for trial and 
punishment. 

"The national police do not take responsibility for the consequences that 
arise in complying with its constitutional mission, protecting life, property 
and the legal activities of its citizenry," he said. 

Saona said the measures do not constitute a national state of emergency but 
are powers granted to the armed forces and police in the constitution.