A police vehicle partially burns during a protest against President Guillermo Lasso's economic and environmental policies and in support of Indigenous leader Leonidas Iza and other demonstrators arrested, in Quito, Ecuador, June 14, 2022.
A police vehicle partially burns during a protest against President Guillermo Lasso's economic and environmental policies and in support of Indigenous leader Leonidas Iza and other demonstrators arrested, in Quito, Ecuador, June 14, 2022. Reuters / JOHANNA ALARCON

Ecuador's police on Tuesday detained the leader of the country's largest indigenous organization, Leonidas Iza, after he led blockades on several highways and other allegedly violent acts in protest against the government's economic policies.

Iza's lawyer called the detention illegal and said it was unclear what crime he is accused of.

Indigenous groups began on Monday what they said will be an ongoing protest to demand President Guillermo Lasso freeze the price of gasoline, declare a moratorium on small farmers' bank debts and limit oil and mining expansion in the country.

On Monday night protesters burned a patrol car and attacked police officers, extinguished a pressure pump in an oil field and damaged infrastructure in some flower farms, the government said.

Iza's arrest on Tuesday prompted further protests, while violence rose in some parts of the country.

"He was intercepted and detained in a violent way, incommunicado for five hours, we didn't know where he was and we still don't know what crime he is accused of," Iza's lawyer Lenin Sarzosa told journalists in Quito. "We have presented a habeas petition for illegal detention."

Iza's organization CONAIE tweeted a video of his detention, describing it as "violent, illegal and arbitrary."

Four people who allegedly participated in crimes and one person who is an intellectual author are awaiting a hearing, Interior Minister Patricio Carrillo wrote on Twitter.

"Protest is a right that we defend as the government, but not chaos and much less violence," the minister added.

Hundreds of indigenous people arrived in Latacunga, south of capital city Quito, to support Iza on Tuesday afternoon. Other marches were reported in small towns with indigenous populations.

Ecuador's police said officers had been assaulted and several of them detained by protesters in Latacunga.

Community and student groups were also protesting against Lasso's economic reforms in Quito in the afternoon, culminating in an attack on a police car, according to Reuters witnesses.

"Whatever happens, whatever it costs, even if we have to rot in jail, we will keep fighting," said Marlon Vargas, the head of Amazonian indigenous group CONFENIAE.

Lasso has said he will not allow protests to affect economic recovery and will punish any vandalism during protests.

Ecuadorean oil company PetroOriental said it was losing production of some 1,400 barrels per day and had shuttered eight wells in Orellana province after a small group from the Yawepare community occupied its installations, blocked access roads and damaged the tires of military vehicles with spears.