Four demonstrators suffered gunshot wounds and 19 others were arrested during the first day of protests on Monday in Nabon, 225 miles southeast of Quito near Cuenca, Ecuador's third largest city.

On Tuesday, protests were concentrated in Latacunga, the capital of Cotopaxi province 55 miles south of Quito. Businesses and shops closed in the city of about 100,000, which serves as a regional trading center for nearby Indian communities.

Television images showed demonstrators blocking streets with rocks and burning tires, then puncturing the tires of cars and trucks that tried to get through. Some were seen looting food from a small market.

Police fired tear gas, and the protesters fled when army troops began patrolling the streets.

Police said four interprovincial buses and two soldiers had been detained by protesters, but no arrests or injuries were reported.

Indigenous leaders want the government to spend more money on public works, such as new roads, and education for Indians living in isolated villages. They often lack roads to take their products to market, and don't have sewage systems or running water.

They have also appealed to Gutierrez to end government austerity measures - such as cuts to cooking gas subsidies - that he announced upon taking office in January 2003 to meet international lending requirements.

Some indigenous leaders have demanded that Gutierrez step down.

Gutierrez, a former army colonel, led 5,000 Indians in a coup that toppled an unpopular president in 2000. He won elections in 2002 with the help of the indigenous groups, and several Indian leaders initially held ministry positions.

The arrangement fell apart last year after months of criticism by Indian leaders upset with Gutierrez's economic policies.