Dozens killed in Amhara region, defence forces ordered to take measures

Several dozen people have been shot dead on Monday and Tuesday in different towns of the Amhara region, according to reports. A resident of Simada town, 105kms from Debre Tabor, an important market town connecting Gondar with Lalibela, told the Amharic Service of the Voice of America (VOA) that clash broke out on Monday when residents tried to remove the country’s current flag with coat of star and replace it with the former one. The resident told VOA said that a militia started firing in to the protesters and he was certain that 11 deaths, some of them on the spot and others after transported to Debre Tabor Hospital. An opposition politician, Mulugeta Abebe of the All Ethiopian Unity party, confirmed that there had been deaths but said they were seven. He told VOA that many others were injured, and hundreds arrested. Clashes were reported in northern towns of Debre Tabor, Gaint, Woreta, Este, Addis Zemen, Ebinat and Ambesame, where protesters had set up roadblocks with burning tyres. The violence left several dead on Monday in Dangala town, including four security forces, witnesses told reporters the following day. The town’s mayor house was also burned down. The main road from Debre Markos to Baher Dar has been shut down since Sunday, causing vehicles and long-distance trucks to queue on Addis Ababa-Debre Markos road. In another violent confrontation with security forces on Monday and Tuesday in the northwest Ethiopian town of Dur Bete town, eight people were injured and taken to Baher Dar Felege Hiowt hospital, according to the Amharic Reporter newspaper. The paper that came out today wrote that the security forces opened fire after protesters tried to block the road.
The region’s government communication head Nigusu Tilahun told the local Sheger FM that here had been clashes across the region and said the region had ordered the defence forces to take measures against protesters. He accused anti-peace elements of exploiting local discontent and trying destabilize the region. He said public service establishments had been closed in various towns of the region.
Ethiopia’s ruling party, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, met over the weekend to discuss protests and issued a statement praising its security forces for the “sacrifices paid with life and physical harm.” It said continued sacrifice will be needed to “maintain peace and guard the country’s development, democracy and peace.”
Source: ethiopiaobserver