In wide-scale civil disturbances, police fired tear gas at demonstrators demanding the resignation of President Jamil Mahaud of Ecuador, as the South American country teetered on the brink of economic collapse.
With heavily-armed riot troops on the streets, the atmosphere was tense throughout the weekend as a state of emergency entered its fifth day. The country, which has ground to a virtual standstill, is suffering the effects of its worst devaluation since records began in 1927.
Since the beginning of this year the sucre, as Ecuador's currency is known, has been devalued by 15 per cent. Thousands of people have seen their life savings wiped out as 10 of the country's banks declared themselves broke.
Already several large-scale protests have taken place in the capital city, Quito, and more demonstrations are planned for
this week. Powerful indigenous groups have blocked roads around the capital, which is located high in the Andes, and opposition groups have pledged to stop food supplies from the countryside if demands for Mr Mahaud's resignation are not met.
Public-sector workers, including bus-drivers and teachers, are also threatening to bring the country to a standstill. While thousands of oil workers employed in the country's lifeline industry have announced an indefinite strike.
Ecuador's crippling economic crisis is partly the result of financial mismanagement by the country's past two presidents. Combined with a drop in world oil prices during the past two years and the effect of the El Nino storms on the country's agricultural sector, Ecuador has been unable to drag itself out of an ever-deepening financial hole.
With a foreign debt of more than £13 billion, the country has been treated as a pariah by its neighbours after it defaulted on a so-called "Brady" bond debt with the US last September.
Ecuador's rocketing inflation, running at 64 per cent, is paralysing the country and driving up the unemployment rate, which al ready stands at 12 per cent.
Lacking support from Congress, or indeed a majority in his own party, Mr Mahaud's position is looking increasingly tenuous. Elected 17 months ago, the former mayor of Quito initially enjoyed wide support among the country's 12 million population, providing a welcome antidote to the former president, Mr Abdala Bucaram, or El Loco (the Crazy) as he was known.
But in April 1999, after a panicked middle class started withdrawing their savings en masse, the President froze all bank accounts in a failed attempt to stabilise the currency.
From that point, he lost all popular support as companies were incapable of paying staff and thousands of families were forced below the poverty line, unable to withdraw money from their bank accounts.
But with no obvious successor to replace the ailing President, people are now looking to the military for guidance. However, after a seven-hour meeting with Mr Mahaud on Saturday, senior army generals published a full-page advert in El Comercio, the country's largest newspaper, pledging their support for the democratic process.
Signed by the Council of Generals and Admirals for the Armed Forces of Ecuador, they dismissed any "attempt to disrupt the rule of law" insisting that a "constitutional and democratic" solution must be found for the country's economic and political crisis.
Despite being used to political upheaval, most Ecuadorans say the country has reached its most serious predicament in decades. The streets of Quito enjoyed a period of calm yesterday morning, as people prepared themselves for more civil insurrection.
Already more than 100 people have been injured in violent clashes with police after government buildings were sealed off to protesters demanding a meeting with the President. Acting with enhanced powers, a result of the emergency decree, the police have cracked down on demonstrators and made widespread arrests across the country.