QUITO, Jan 28 — Ecuador yesterday denounced what it said was an attempted incursion by US immigration agents into the South American country’s consulate in the flashpoint city of Minneapolis.

The government of Daniel Noboa, one of Washington’s closest allies in Latin America, sent a letter of protest to the US embassy in Quito regarding the incident, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

According to the note, a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent tried to enter the consulate but was kept out by staffers to protect Ecuadorans who were inside the diplomatic mission.

Minneapolis, in the northern state of Minnesota, has emerged as the tense ground zero of the national clash over President Donald Trump’s harsh deportation drive after ICE agents shot and killed two protesters this month, one of them on Saturday as he lay pinned to the ground by masked officers.

Images circulating on social media show a man with his face concealed attempting to enter the building, while an official warns him that he is not authorised to do so.

The ministry demanded that “acts of this nature not be repeated in any of Ecuador’s consular offices in the United States.”

Trump announced earlier in the day that he would “de-escalate a little bit,” following the two fatal shootings.

Last week, a photograph showing a frightened five-year-old Ecuadorian boy being escorted by an immigration agent who was holding him by his Spiderman backpack went viral and fueled protests. — AFP