Ecuador’s biggest city ‘a desert’ as state tries to restore order after gang violence

Guayaquil eerily quiet as armed forces patrol in wake of stunning wave of arson, bombings and prison riots that killed at least 10

Ecuador’s largest city has been transformed into a virtual ghost town by a stunning wave of criminal violence that prompted the South American country’s recently elected president to declare his country was in “a state of war”.

On Thursday the streets of Guayaquil – a normally teeming port city of about 3 million residents – remained eerily quiet after a succession of arson attacks, car bombings, shootings and prison riots in different parts of the country claimed at least 10 lives.