Monday, 3 October 2016

At least 52 dead in Ethiopia after stampede at Oromo holy festival

By Briana Duggan, for CNN and Stephanie Busari, CNN
Updated 1217 GMT (2017 HKT) October 3, 2016

Bystanders work to remove an injured man from a ditch.
Photos: Ethiopia Oromo deaths
Bystanders work to remove an injured man from a ditch.
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People help a man wash his eyes after police used teargas on festival participants.
Photos: Ethiopia Oromo deaths
People help a man wash his eyes after police used teargas on festival participants.
Hide Caption
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A man covers the bodies of festival goers who were killed in the stampede.
Photos: Ethiopia Oromo deaths
A man covers the bodies of festival goers who were killed in the stampede.
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Oromo regional police officers wait in a pickup near a crowd of festival attendees.
Photos: Ethiopia Oromo deaths
Oromo regional police officers wait in a pickup near a crowd of festival attendees.
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Festival goers flee as police fire teargas into the crowd in Bishoftu, near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Sunday, October 2. At least 52 people died during the stampede that followed. An estimated two million people had gathered at a sacred lake to take part in the Irreecha ceremony to mark the Oromo New Year.
Photos: Ethiopia Oromo deaths
Festival goers flee as police fire teargas into the crowd in Bishoftu, near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Sunday, October 2. At least 52 people died during the stampede that followed. An estimated two million people had gathered at a sacred lake to take part in the Irreecha ceremony to mark the Oromo New Year.
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Security forces standby as Oromo people cross their wrists above their heads, a gesture that has become a symbol of Oromo anti-government protests.
Photos: Ethiopia Oromo deaths
Security forces standby as Oromo people cross their wrists above their heads, a gesture that has become a symbol of Oromo anti-government protests.
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According to AFP photographer Zacharias Abubeker the event quickly degenerated, with protesters throwing stones and bottles and security forces responding with baton charges and tear gas grenades.
Photos: Ethiopia Oromo deaths
According to AFP photographer Zacharias Abubeker the event quickly degenerated, with protesters throwing stones and bottles and security forces responding with baton charges and tear gas grenades.
Hide Caption
3 of 7
Bystanders work to remove an injured man from a ditch.
Photos: Ethiopia Oromo deaths
Bystanders work to remove an injured man from a ditch.
Hide Caption
4 of 7
People help a man wash his eyes after police used teargas on festival participants.
Photos: Ethiopia Oromo deaths
People help a man wash his eyes after police used teargas on festival participants.
Hide Caption
5 of 7
A man covers the bodies of festival goers who were killed in the stampede.
Photos: Ethiopia Oromo deaths
A man covers the bodies of festival goers who were killed in the stampede.
Hide Caption
6 of 7
Oromo regional police officers wait in a pickup near a crowd of festival attendees.
Photos: Ethiopia Oromo deaths
Oromo regional police officers wait in a pickup near a crowd of festival attendees.
Hide Caption
7 of 7
Festival goers flee as police fire teargas into the crowd in Bishoftu, near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Sunday, October 2. At least 52 people died during the stampede that followed. An estimated two million people had gathered at a sacred lake to take part in the Irreecha ceremony to mark the Oromo New Year.
Photos: Ethiopia Oromo deaths
Festival goers flee as police fire teargas into the crowd in Bishoftu, near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Sunday, October 2. At least 52 people died during the stampede that followed. An estimated two million people had gathered at a sacred lake to take part in the Irreecha ceremony to mark the Oromo New Year.
Hide Caption
1 of 7
Security forces standby as Oromo people cross their wrists above their heads, a gesture that has become a symbol of Oromo anti-government protests.
Photos: Ethiopia Oromo deaths
Security forces standby as Oromo people cross their wrists above their heads, a gesture that has become a symbol of Oromo anti-government protests.
Hide Caption
2 of 7
According to AFP photographer Zacharias Abubeker the event quickly degenerated, with protesters throwing stones and bottles and security forces responding with baton charges and tear gas grenades.
Photos: Ethiopia Oromo deaths
According to AFP photographer Zacharias Abubeker the event quickly degenerated, with protesters throwing stones and bottles and security forces responding with baton charges and tear gas grenades.
Hide Caption
3 of 7
Bystanders work to remove an injured man from a ditch.
Photos: Ethiopia Oromo deaths
Bystanders work to remove an injured man from a ditch.
Hide Caption
4 of 7
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Story highlights

  • More than 52 people died Sunday at a holy festival
  • Ruling party, opposition dispute events leading up to deaths
(CNN)More than 52 people were killed in a stampede in central Ethiopia after police fired warning shots at a holy festival Sunday, Communications Minister Getachew Reda said.
"Troublemakers" at the Oromo Irreechaa festival in Bishoftu physically attacked elders who were making their way to the stage to say their blessings for the new year, Reda said.
    Police fired warning shots into the air, triggering the stampede at the festival attended by an estimated 2 million people, he said.
    However, Ethiopia's opposition party disputed that account, saying that police fired live bullets into the crowd and as many as 120 people were killed.
    Merera Gudina, chairman of the Oromo Federalist Congress, said the number of casualties was still unknown.
    "This goes down as one of the darkest days in modern Oromo history," Gudina told CNN.
    The Oromo are Ethiopia's largest ethnic group and make up at least a third of the country's 100 million people. But they have been marginalized for decades, with tensions rising recently as the government promoted development that took over Oromo farmland.
    During the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, athlete Feyisa Lilesa protested against what he said was unfair persecution of the Oromo people by the Ethiopian government.
    Ethiopian marathoner makes protest sign at finish line
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    Gudina said the violence broke out after festival attendees refused to listen to speakers from the ruling party.
    "The ruling party has been trying to control the festival and use it for its own political interests," he said. "The people gathered refused to listen to speeches of the ruling party. In that confrontation the security forces started to shoot and use tear gas and live bullets. That created chaos."
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    Reda vigorously denied the claim, saying the deaths were the result of a stampede.
    "Of the people's bodies who were collected, they do not have any bullet wounds whatsoever," Reda said. "They were killed in the stampede. The security forces were mostly unarmed and none of them were involved in firing at the people."
    "There was no force involved on the part of the security forces -- after all, this event was a people's event," he added.
    Reda blamed diaspora elements for causing the chaos, saying they were trying to "take advantage to promote a political agenda."
    "We have a diaspora who are trying to drive a wedge in the people in the government who are using all sorts of violent means to achieve it."
    Gudina said Ethiopians in other parts of Oromia are protesting the deaths, including in Ambo in western Oromia.
    "The government should negotiate and the government should talk to people. The bullet should not be the answer to people demanding their right," Gudina said
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    Ethiopian forces 'killed 400 Oromo protesters'



    • 16 June 2016
      •  
    • From the sectionAfrica


    People mourn the death a man who was shot dead by the Ethiopian forces the day earlier, in the Yubdo Village, about 100km from Addis Ababa in the Oromia region, on 17 December 2015Image copyrightAFP
    Image captionOfficials have acknowledged that more than 170 people were killed during the protests

    Ethiopian security forces killed more than 400 people in the recent wave of anti-government demonstrations, US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) says.
    In its most comprehensive report into the Oromo protests, HRW lists the names of more than 300 it says were killed.
    The government has acknowledged that protesters have died but said HRW was "very generous with numbers".
    Protests were sparked by fears that a plan to expand the capital into Oromia region would displace Oromo farmers.
    They began in November last year, but the government dropped the proposal to enlarge Addis Ababa's administrative boundaries in January.
    Oromia is Ethiopia's largest region, completely surrounding the city.
    The change of policy has not stopped the demonstrations, but they have reduced in their intensity.
    At the last census in 2007, the Oromo made up Ethiopia's biggest ethnic group, at about 25 million people out of a population at the time of nearly 74 million.


    map

    An investigation, released last week, by the Ethiopia Human Rights Commission, appointed by parliament, found that 173 people had died during the unrest.
    It said the dead included 28 security officers and local government officials.
    Information Minister Getachew Reda said that in the main the security forces conducted themselves "in a very professional and responsible manner".
    He put the killings down to "a few bad apples".
    The government has said that it will investigate and deal with those responsible.

    Analysis: Emmanuel Igunza, BBC Ethiopia correspondent



    Ethiopian protesters with a barricadeImage copyrightAFP
    Image captionThe protests began in November last year

    In March, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn apologised for the death and destruction of property caused by protests in Oromia region.
    While his statement was bold, and came as a surprise, some protesters said it was a case of too little, too late.
    The acknowledgment by the country's information minister that deaths had occurred is not different.
    There will also be questions about the sincerity of investigating police officers who used unnecessary force.
    Can it really do that while dozens of protesters are still being detained and are yet to be charged?
    While the protests have died down recently, they remain significant as some believe they are highlighting the alleged marginalisation of the Oromo people.

    'Electric shocks'

    The HRW report is based on interviews with more than 100 victims and witnesses and accuses the police and army of using excessive force, reports the BBC's Ethiopia correspondent Emmanuel Igunza.
    Some of those interviewed allege they were hung by their ankles and beaten while others described having electric shocks applied to their feet while in detention.
    Several women also claim to have been raped and sexually assaulted.
    HRW also says that tens of thousands of people were arrested and hundreds have disappeared.

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