(CNN) -- Three days after police officers protesting a new law physically attacked Ecuador's president and allegedly held him at a hospital for hours, the country's interior minister says the government remains convinced that the uprising was an attempted coup.
Interior Minister Gustavo Jalkh told CNN en Espanol Sunday that the intentions of the police officers involved were clear when the president's attempts to talk drew a violent reaction from a crowd of protesters Thursday.
"The president was talking with some police who wanted to talk with us. We were talking. Why else would they throw bombs at a politician?" he said.
The police officers said they were angered by a new law that would take away their bonuses and reduce their compensation. President Rafael Correa, who was roughed up and hit by tear gas, said the law would do no such thing and said the police officers had not even read it.
"We were starting to talk when all of the sudden they started insulting us. And the insults had nothing to do with the supposed labor issues... There was a campaign of distortion and deception," said Jalkh, who as interior minister also oversees the national police.
He repeated the government's earlier assertions that former president Lucio Gutierrez was behind the unrest. And he said "the risk was very serious" for Correa.
But Gutierrez has denied any involvement, and local media reports have questioned whether Correa's life was ever in danger, claiming that other government officials were able to enter and leave the hospital while Correa remained inside.
"The elements for a coup do not exist. There was no political movement or a call for the president to leave office. There was no intent to put the presidency in the power of another person. What occurred was an uprising from part of the police," analyst Roberto Izurieta told CNN en Espanol Friday.
CNN
