Over 1,000 arrests during Ecuador census day

Quito, Nov 30 (IANS/EFE) A total of 1,026 people were placed under arrest Sunday, the day a national census of population and housing was being taken in Ecuador. A law forbids people from leaving their homes even after being counted on that day.

According to national police chief Patricio Franco, 962 people were arrested for not obeying the ban on alcohol consumption, and another 62 for failing to observe the Immobilization Law.

The director of the National Statistics and Census Institute, Byron Villacis, said there were no other incidents to relate during the census that lasted 10 hours, beginning 7 a.m. Sunday.

Villacis said that “almost 30 percent of the country will be counted by Dec 5″ in border areas and remote places of difficult access, among others.

Nonetheless, the census was successfully taken of the majority of the population Sunday, on a day when inhabitants were not allowed to leave their homes, even after being counted.

–IANS/EFE