ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Anti-government Muslims in Ethiopia on Monday called for mass demonstrations to be held on the religious day of Eid al-Fitr later this week to protest the arrests of 28 people on terror charges.
The calls followed a weekend of violence in which three people were killed after security forces clashed with what police labeled Muslim “extremists.”
Hundreds of people held rallies near mosques in the capital, Addis Ababa, and some regional towns on Friday and Saturday.
Police in the Oromia region said some protesters fired guns at police. The state news agency said all three killed were police officers and that 11 people were injured during the hours-long unrest. Muslim leaders, however, said that police stormed a peaceful protest and killed about a dozen people.
Some in Ethiopia’s Muslim community — about one-third of the predominantly Christian nation — have been protesting alleged government interference in religious affairs for about two years.
The Muslim protesters accuse the government of unconstitutionally encouraging a moderate teaching of Islam called Al-Ahbash. Other protests have also turned violence in the past.
Rights groups and the U.S. Commission on Intentional Religious Freedom blame the government for the ongoing tensions with Muslims.
Most of the protest leaders are now behind bars and face terrorism charges. In December, 28 activists pleaded not guilty to the terror charges. The trial has since then continued behind closed doors with the press and family members denied access to the proceedings. Defense lawyers say the court is yet to deliver a verdict.
During the latest protests at the Grand Anwar mosque in the capital, some shouted slogans demanding the release of the activists.
“The illegal activities are being spearheaded by few Salafists who have been plotting terror attacks including the killings of religious scholars,” the country’s federal police said in a statement. “The Ethiopian government and Ethiopian people will continue to work together to protect the peace and stability of the nation that enjoyed religious tolerance during its long history.”
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Ginbot 7: The same regime, another massacre
Ginbot 7 press release
Ginbot 7 Movement for Justice, Freedom and Democracy
Ginbot 7 Movement for Justice, Freedom and Democracy
The TPLF dictatorial regime that indiscriminately killed more than 200 demonstrators in the aftermath of the infamous 2005 election has struck again killing more than 25 innocent demonstrators and wounding, assaulting, and rounding up thousands more. In a bizarre and disgraceful move, the same regime that claimed 99.6% electoral victory just a little more than three years ago, has gone to the same precincts and localities and mercilessly killed the same people that it said – “The People have spoken”.
The abuse and the killing over the weekend targeted Muslim communities all over the nation who for the past 32 months have peacefully been demanding the regime to respect their constitutional right to worship. According to eye witnesses, the heavy-handed attack that resembled a battle field planned operation took place in the town of Kofle about 275 km south of the capital, in Arsi zone of Oromia state. An elderly imam, a five year old child and four teens were among the dead in a killing spree that continued for two days and covered cities, towns, and villages across the nation.
Ethiopia and its tyrant rulers are not new to mass arrests and street massacres; in fact, Ethiopia arrests and kills its own citizens more than any other nation on earth. What’s new and difficult to comprehend is that, the killers in Ethiopia also enjoy one of the largest inflows of foreign aid in the world, and the killing of political disinters and peaceful demonstrators seems to increase as the amount of foreign aid to the killers increases. Ginbot 7, Movement for Justice, Freedom and Democracy condemns the recent mass killing in Ethiopia and holds the TPLF regime and its enables responsible for the innocent life lost.
The political impasse in Ethiopia has come to a dangerous crossroads where the minority regime cannot continue governing the nation without mass arrests and random killings. Ginbot 7 urges the international community, especially those who call themselves ‘defenders of freedom and democracy’ to not quietly watch when citizens in Ethiopian who practice their constitutional right get massacred by their own government.
Ginbot 7 re-affirms its commitment to the proud and courageous people of Ethiopia, and it also wants to use this opportunity to make a call to Muslim and Christian Ethiopians to stand together and show the world that their 1600 years of peaceful co-existence will never be tarnished by the divide and rule policy of the TPLF regime. The time to view and wage the struggle for freedom and justice across religious and ethnic lines has come, and it is now.
Together, we shall overcome!
Ginbot 7 Movement
The abuse and the killing over the weekend targeted Muslim communities all over the nation who for the past 32 months have peacefully been demanding the regime to respect their constitutional right to worship. According to eye witnesses, the heavy-handed attack that resembled a battle field planned operation took place in the town of Kofle about 275 km south of the capital, in Arsi zone of Oromia state. An elderly imam, a five year old child and four teens were among the dead in a killing spree that continued for two days and covered cities, towns, and villages across the nation.Ethiopia and its tyrant rulers are not new to mass arrests and street massacres; in fact, Ethiopia arrests and kills its own citizens more than any other nation on earth. What’s new and difficult to comprehend is that, the killers in Ethiopia also enjoy one of the largest inflows of foreign aid in the world, and the killing of political disinters and peaceful demonstrators seems to increase as the amount of foreign aid to the killers increases. Ginbot 7, Movement for Justice, Freedom and Democracy condemns the recent mass killing in Ethiopia and holds the TPLF regime and its enables responsible for the innocent life lost.
The political impasse in Ethiopia has come to a dangerous crossroads where the minority regime cannot continue governing the nation without mass arrests and random killings. Ginbot 7 urges the international community, especially those who call themselves ‘defenders of freedom and democracy’ to not quietly watch when citizens in Ethiopian who practice their constitutional right get massacred by their own government.
Ginbot 7 re-affirms its commitment to the proud and courageous people of Ethiopia, and it also wants to use this opportunity to make a call to Muslim and Christian Ethiopians to stand together and show the world that their 1600 years of peaceful co-existence will never be tarnished by the divide and rule policy of the TPLF regime. The time to view and wage the struggle for freedom and justice across religious and ethnic lines has come, and it is now.
Together, we shall overcome!
Ginbot 7 Movement
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