Foreign Academic Detained in Ecuador Riot Faces Deportation

teleSUR | August 16, 2015

Ecuador’s Interior Ministry issued a press release Saturday denying allegations that police had attacked and illegally detained French-Brazilian academic Manuela Picq during violent anti-government protests last Thursday.

Picq was taken into custody at a location where anti-government protesters began throwing projectiles and fire bombs at police in an attempt to enter the site where thousands of government supporters had gathered. Shortly following her detention, right-wing lawmaker Andres Paez sent tweets indicating that police had entered the Eugenio Espejo Hospital – where Picq had been sent to – in order to take injured protesters away.

Photos showing Picq with a bruise around her eye also began making the rounds on social media, but allegations claiming the bruises were from the police were disproven shortly after. Tweet:

To all my followers. Manuela Picq had confirmed to me that this photo that I shared was not from today. Many apologies to all.

Hospital Director Dr. Lenin Mantilla denied police had entered the hospital and said Picq and other opposition leaders were released after they were given medical clearances.

The release also included a recorded testimony of Manuela Picq denying rumors that she had been the victim of mistreatment by authorities.

“I was treated kindly by the police authorities and the paramedics on the scene,” Picq said during her recorded testimony.

According to local police reports, the academic and writer had suffered bruises during Thursday’s protest due to an attack from “unknown assailants” and was approached by authorities who sought to administer first aid. Picq was subsequently asked to provide her documentation, where officials say they discovered she had been living in the country with an “irregular status.”

However, in an interview with El Comerico, Picq claims she was illegally detained by Ecuadorean police officials.

“Yesterday, I was not an illegal immigrant and they arrested me without any probable cause. They didn’t detain me with any motive,” Picq told the newspaper.

The media report also coincided with the release of a photograph, which began circulating across social media platforms that depicted Picq being carried away by Ecuadorean police.

Picq, who is the partner of radical opposition leader Carlos Perez, had been participating in roadblocks as part of the so-called ‘National Action’ by anti-government organizations.

The action, which was supported by most right-wing leaders including banker Guillermo Lasso and agro-businessman Alvaro Noboa, came on the heels of demonstrations against government proposals to increase inheritance and capital gains taxes for the country’s wealthiest sector.

The Ecuadorean Ministry of Interior confirmed that they will reach a decision by Monday regarding Picq’s potential deportation.