Unrest continues after 52 dead in stampede
IADDIS ABABA (AP): VIOLENCE FLARED again yesterday in Ethiopia’s restive Oromia region, where 52 people were killed a day earlier in a stampede when police tried to disrupt an anti-government protest during a massive religious festival.
Clashes between security forces and protesters erupted Sunday evening and continued into Monday morning in the towns of Bishoftu and Ambo, an Ethiopian government official and witnesses told the Associated Press.
Relatives of those killed in Sunday’s stampede flocked to Bishoftu, 45 kilometres (27 miles) south-east of the capital, Addis Ababa, raising tensions, said Nimona Negash, a driver of a small motorised taxi called a tuk-tuk.
The annual Irrecha thanksgiving festival had drawn huge crowds, and the stampede occurred as people ran to escape police firing tear gas and rubber bullets and shooting live rounds into the air after anti-government protesters approached the stage where religious leaders were speaking.
At least 52 people were crushed to death. A witness said some of those killed were still being recovered from ditches, where they fell while trying to flee.
There also were reports of arrests.
“Some people tried to come out en masse this morning to protest the deaths of holidaygoers on Sunday and also demand the release of people arrested during the celebrations,” Negash said. “Today’s (yesterday) protesters were peaceful but dispersed by police violently. I’m not aware of any deaths this morning, but it was violent. But I’m aware of live bullets used this morning in other vicinities of this town.”
He said he witnessed seven bodies being pulled from a deep ditch until he could no longer stand to watch.
DEADLY PROTESTS
The Oromia region has been experiencing deadly anti-government protests since November 2015 as people call for wider political freedom and the release of detained opposition figures and journalists.
Ethiopia’s government, a close security ally of the West, has been accused of quashing dissent and blocking Internet access. The US recently spoke out against what it called the excessive use of force against protesters, calling the country’s situation “extremely serious”.
Ethiopia’s government is accusing the protesters. President Mulatu Teshome Wirtu, on a state visit to Italy on Monday, blamed the stampede on “the action of some hooligans”, Italian news agency ANSA reported.