By Steven Dudley
Knight Ridder

QUITO, Ecuador, April 17 -- Residents of Quito on Sunday hit the streets for the fifth day to demand the resignation of President Lucio Gutierrez over his handling of a crisis with the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, Congress met in a special session to determine the constitutionality of a presidential decree regarding the court's makeup.

Gutierrez and his allies in Congress on Friday disbanded the court for a second time since December and declared a state of emergency for the city of Quito, the scene of widespread protests.

Gutierrez lifted the state of emergency late Saturday, although police continued to man the streets and block access to government buildings, including Congress, where lawmakers held a volatile special session.

Members of Congress met to decide whether to ratify Gutierrez's decision to dissolve the Supreme Court and debate how justices would be chosen in the future. In December, lawmakers, at the behest of Gutierrez, fired 27 of 31 magistrates they deemed too political and replaced them with political allies.

Meanwhile, street protests demanding Gutierrez's resignation appeared to be gaining momentum, and many organizers promised more to come. Leaders of indigenous groups, who have played key roles in forcing out other presidents in the past 10 years, said they would begin blocking roads throughout the country on Monday.

Gutierrez told reporters Sunday evening there was "no possibility" that he will step down, the Reuters news agency reported

No violence has been reported between police and protesters, who honked horns, waved flags and banged pots and pans in an effort to pressure the president to resign.

Military personnel were also conspicuously absent from the streets of Quito on Sunday, and some analysts wondered whether the army was deciding its own course of action. Army officers were said to be meeting to determine how to proceed if protests continued to grow.

Gutierrez, a former army colonel, is Ecuador's sixth president in the last 10 years. He is no stranger to protest; he participated in a 2000 coup that ousted the president at the time, Jamil Mahuad.

Decisions of the reconstituted Supreme Court have led to speculation that the president may have made backroom deals to salvage his presidency. In late March, the court cleared several politicians of corruption charges, most notably former president Abdala Bucaram. Gutierrez was a military aide to Bucaram during his brief term, and Gutierrez's political party made an alliance with Bucaram's party late last year, which may have saved the president from impeachment by Congress.

Gutierrez's fate may depend on his ability to hold together the fragile alliance, which also includes the party of his presidential rival in 2002 elections, Alvaro Noboa. The party is considered to have the swing votes in Congress that could determine Gutierrez's fate if Congress decides to try to force him from office.

"The president will not be able to govern anymore," Quito Mayor Paco Moncayo said. "He cannot face the people. He can't even go out on the street. What's he going to do, stay locked up inside the presidential palace?"

© 2005