By MONTE HAYES

                  QUITO, Ecuador (AP) -- Slipping by military highway patrols, thousands of
                  highland Indian protesters, including women and children in ragged clothing,
                  reached the capital Tuesday as the to demand the resignation of embattled
                  President Jamil Mahuad.

                  The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador, which represents
                  the country's 4 million Indians, has organized what it calls an "indigenous
                  uprising," which includes blockading highways and a march on Quito by at
                  least 10,000 Indians.

                  After sleeping and resting most of the day at a park near the downtown,
                  some 5,000 Indians marched peacefully toward Congress, located two
                  blocks away, but were turned back by police barricades.

                  They continued their march along nearby streets, chanting anti-Mahuad
                  slogans in Spanish and the Quichua Indian language, before returning to the
                  park. The march stretched six blocks long and caused traffic jams during the
                  evening rush hour.

                  "We have come to found a new Ecuador conceived from an indigenous
                  viewpoint," said Antonio Vargas, president of the Indian confederation.

                  Two Indian healers dressed in traditional clothing and sandals burned leaves
                  and herbs to mark "the beginning of a new era."

                  Indian leaders have set Wednesday as the day of the symbolic "capture" of
                  Quito, Ecuador's capital, by thousands of Indian protesters. Leaders at one
                  point had said 40,000 Indians would take part but have since scaled back
                  the figure to 10,000.

                  They are demanding Mahuad's resignation, accusing him of failing to end
                  Ecuador's economic crisis, including a 60 percent inflation rate, the highest in
                  Latin America.

                  The Indians also say Mahuad should go because of his plan to make the
                  U.S. dollar Ecuador's official currency in a bid to halt inflation and stabilize
                  the economy. Their leaders charge the step will impoverish even further the 7
                  million poor people in Ecuador's population of 12 million.

                  The government deployed 35,000 soldiers and police to patrol the country's
                  major highways to block Indians who live in isolated highland villages from
                  reaching Quito.

                  Despite the patrols by security forces, hundreds of Indians appeared at
                  dawn Tuesday in Quito, located 9,400 feet high in the Andes, and began
                  gathering at a large park near downtown. Throughout the day they continued
                  to filter into the park in small groups.

                  An Indian leader, who refused to give his name, said the Indians from his
                  village had walked all night through the mountains, avoiding highways.

                  "We have come to Quito to stay until Jamil goes back to his home," the
                  leader said.

                  Indians from other mountain villages said they had arrived on buses and had
                  managed to get by military blockades by telling soldiers they were on their
                  way to towns near the capital to attend religious festivals and other events.

                  The Indians who gathered in El Arbolito park, 20 blocks from the
                  government palace, included men, women and children in tattered clothing
                  and ponchos.

                  On Monday groups of Indians blocked highways in eight of Ecuador's 22
                  provinces, the latest in a series of anti-Mahuad protests. Security forces
                  quickly cleared the roads without violence.

                    Copyright 2000 The Associated Press.