Bishoftu (AFP): Several people were trampled to death when police used rubber bullets and tear gas against protesters during a religious festival in Ethiopia Sunday.
Several thousand people attended the festival on the banks of Harsadi Lake in Bishoftu(Debre Zeit), 60 kilometers southeast of the capital Addis Ababa.
The so-called Irreecha festival celebrated by Oromo people, who celebrate the rainy season is over.
The festival degenerated eventually into a demonstration against the government's repression of the Oromo people. Participants threw bottles and stones at members of the security forces, who responded with batons, rubber bullets and tear gas.
Tear gas triggered panic and at least 50 people fell over each other in a ditch. Eyewitnesses spoke of between 15 and 20 motionless bodies after the chaos, and several of them were obviously dead.
Police kept photographers and journalists at a distance
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