At least half ton people were left dead in Ethiopia’s Oromiya region due to stampede triggered following teargas and air shot by police Sunday in an effort to disperse anti-government protesters at an annual religious festival.
According to state broadcaster citing officials 52 people were killed. Opposition too confirmed the toll as more than fifty at the festival where some from the huge crowd are learned to have chanted slogans against the government waving rebel’s red, green and yellow flag.
The crowd chanted, “We need freedom” and “We need justice” and tried to prevent community elders from delivering speeches which were thought to be of pro-government kind. The flag waves were of the rebel group Oromo Liberation Front that is branded by the government as a terrorist organization.
People in thousands gathered for the Irreecha festival of thanksgiving in the town of Bishoftu, away of capital Addis Ababa by 40 km.
Following the firing of gun shots into the air and teargas the crowds fled that resulted in a stampede. Some people even are learned to have been plunged into a deep ditch.
Over the period of about past two years several such protests have erupted in the country, initially by a land row and later against the government.
In past one year many anti-government protesters have been killed in clashes with police.
Tensions in Oromiya have been heightened after the government has delivered stellar economic growth rates that resulted with wide criticisms from rights groups and opponents claiming political freedoms have been decreased.
