Bogotá, Colombia | Armed gunmen wearing masks stormed a television station on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT) in Ecuador’s largest city, taking anchors and staff hostage and exchanging gunfire with police as cameras rolled, before the intruders were subdued and arrested.

The televised violence, captured live, erupted in the city of Guayaquil as the South American country has descended into chaos this week, with a powerful gang leader disappearing from prison, uprisings breaking out in several prisons and inmates kidnapping and threatening guards.