Andenat Ethiopia

Monday, August 1, 2016

Ethiopia’s ethnic Amhara stage mass anti-government protest

By: AFP | Addis Ababa | Published:August 1, 2016 4:59 am

the demonstrators were seen carrying signs that read: “Stop mass killing of Amhara people” (Google maps)

Tens of thousands of people from Ethiopia’s ethnic Amhara group took part in an anti-government demonstration in the northern city of Gondar, local media said, the largest such gathering yet in a string of recent protests.

The Amhara, who regularly complain of discrimination, have been angered by the government’s decision to place a local district under the administration of the neighbouring Tigray region.

In videos shared on social media, the demonstrators were seen carrying signs that read: “Stop mass killing of Amhara people” and “Restore the historic border”.

Gondar has for weeks been gripped by at times violent demonstrations over demands that the district, populated by the Welkait community, be returned to the Amhara region with which it has close ties.

The Amhara people are Ethiopia’s second biggest ethnic group after the Oromo. Both groups say they suffer discrimination in favour of Tigrayans, who they say occupy the key jobs in the government and security forces.

Ethiopian authorities say at least a dozen people have been killed in clashes with police over the territorial dispute over the past weeks.

In one deadly incident earlier this month, police said five officers and two civilians were killed after Amhara activists opened fire while resisting arrest for “criminal activities”. Sunday’s rally passed off peacefully.

Some of the protesters also used the occasion to express solidarity with the Oromo people, whose own demonstrations against alleged land appropriation left hundreds dead between last November and March, according to human rights groups. There was no immediate comment from the Ethiopian government on the latest protest.

Government spokesman Getachew Reda, who could not be reached yesterday, has previously accused the Amhara protesters of “working in cahoots” with the Eritrean government in a bid to destabilise the country.

Source:
http://indianexpress.com/

Tens of thousands of protesters call for a regime change in Ethiopia

Tens of thousands of protesters have flooded the streets of Gonder in the Amhara region of northern Ethiopia on Sunday demanding a change of government due to the unfair distribution of wealth in the country.

The protest, reported to have been staged in defiance of a government order, is also in solidarity with the Oromia protests held between November last year to March 2016 in opposition to a government development plan in the region which could affect poor farmers.

Images posted by protesters and other eye witnesses on social media show hundreds of thousands of people carrying Ethiopian flags and placards singing and chanting against the government’s regime.

Some placards demanded the release of arrested activists during the Oromia protests while other protesters made the Crossed Arms Resistance gesture which was common during the Oromia protests.

View image on Twitter

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Zecharias Zelalem @ZekuZelalem

Salute of solidarity from the #AmharaProtests to the#OromoProtests

Truly unsarcastic use of #EthiopiaRising here.

6:23 PM - 31 Jul 2016

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Steered by the hashtags #AmharaProtests and #GonderProtests, the protesters bemoan the unfair distribution of wealth in the country and denounced the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) led government affiliated to the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) militant party.

The EPRDF has come under heavy criticism for its handling of the Oromia protests and also its intolerance towards the media and civil society.

Thousands of students, social media activists, and opposition party leaders and supporters were arrested and dozens were charged under the country’s Anti-Terrorism Proclamation (ATP) while hundreds remained in custody without charges.

Human Rights Watch released a report in June estimating that over 400 Oromo protesters were killed in November 2015, and thousands others arrested by Ethiopian security forces during the protests.

The government however disputed the figures and earlier in March, the Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn blamed the death and destruction on “violent” protesters. He however apologized before parliament for “not listening to the concerns of the people”.

The Oromia and Amhara are two of the nine ethnically based regional states of Ethiopia which are considered the poorest compared to the others.

The protest is expected to build up in the coming days.