Dozens feared dead in stampede at Ethiopia religious festival

Agence France-Presse

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Dozens feared dead in stampede at Ethiopia religious festival

AFP

(3rd UPDATE) The stampede happens during an anti-government protest at a religious festival

BISHOFTU, Ethiopia (3rd UPDATE) – Dozens of people were feared dead in Ethiopia after police fired tear gas at protesters during a religious festival on Sunday, October 2, triggering a panicked stampede.

Opposition groups said more than 100 people had been killed in the chaos after thousands of people gathered at a sacred lake in the town of Bishoftu near the capital Addis Ababa.

The government said only that there had been “loss of lives” at the Irreecha (thanksgiving) ceremony, in which the Oromo community marks the end of the rainy season.

“The annual Irreecha (thanksgiving) festival has been disrupted due to a violence created by some groups…Loss of lives has occurred due to a stampede,” read a government statement published by state media.

Merera Gudina, chairman of the opposition Oromo Federalist Congress, told AFP there had been many fatalities, but there was no independent confirmation.

“Bodies are being collected by the government. But what I hear from people on the ground is that the number of dead is more than one hundred,” said Gudina.

Ethiopia is facing its biggest anti-government unrest in a decade and some festival participants had crossed their wrists above their heads, a gesture that has become a symbol of protest by the Oromo community, according to an AFP photographer.

The event quickly degenerated, with protesters throwing stones and bottles and security forces responding with baton charges and tear gas grenades, with some reports of gunfire.

‘Days of rage’

The police action sent people fleeing in panic and at least 50 people fell on top of each other into a ditch.

The AFP photographer said earlier he saw between 15 and 20 bodies that were not moving, some clearly dead.

Police demanded that the photographer leave the scene, where rubber bullets were seen strewn on the ground.

Oromo activists called for “5 days of rage” to protest the killings while a strong police presence was visible as the news of the day’s events spread.

“This government is a dictatorship, there is no equality or freedom of speech. There is only TPLF. That’s why we must protest today,” said Mohamed Jafar, referring to the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front.

In 1991 the TPLF, then a rebel group, overthrew Mengistu Haile Mariam’s dictatorship and now, as a political party stands accused of monopolizing power.

Every year millions of people in the Oromo region mark the Irreecha festival on the shores of Lake Harsadi, which they consider sacred.

The anti-government protests started in the central and western Oromo region in 2015 and spread in recent months to the northern Amhara region.

“For the last 25 years the Oromo people have been marginalized in many things. Today we come together as one to chant for our freedom,” said one of the people at the festival, Habte Bulcha.

Together, Oromos and Amharas make up 60% of the population of the Horn of Africa nation and have become increasingly vocal in rejecting what they see as the disproportionate power wielded by the northern Tigrean minority in government and the security forces. – Rappler.com

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