Indigenous protesters in Ecuador have begun a two-week march across the country against plans for large-scale mining projects. Several hundred protesters set off from an Amazon province where a Chinese company has been authorised to develop a huge open-cast copper mine. Ecuador’s main indigenous organisation, Conaie, says mining will contaminate water and force people off their land. President Rafael Correa says it will help fund much-needed development.He has accused Conaie of trying to destabilise the country. Thousands of his supporters joined a rival demonstration in the capital, Quito. The indigenous protest march has support from some opposition parties as well as student and teachers’ organisations. Under the slogan "For Life and Dignity of the Peoples” the demonstrators set off from the town of El Pangui in Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest region. Some carried banners reading "Chinese companies get out of Ecuador”.The marchers hope more people will join their protest along the 700km (435 mile) route to Quito in the Andean highlands. ‘New era’ Earlier this week the Ecuadorean government signed an agreement with Chinese mining company Ecuacorriente to invest $1.4 billion (£900m) in a copper mining project near El Pangui. The counter-demonstration by Mr Correa’s supporters in Quito was much larger President Correa has hailed the agreement as marking the start of a "new era” in Ecuador.