Women supporters show the Oromo protest gesture outside Jawar Mohammed’s house
ADDIS ABABA, Oct 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Police fired gunshots and teargas as thousands protested in Ethiopia on Wednesday over the treatment of a prominent activist, accused of formenting unrest.
More than a thousand supporters gathered in Addis Ababa outside the house of Jawar Mohammed, a media entrepreneur who organised protests that brought Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to power last year, after police surrounded the building.
Protests quickly spread to the cities of Adama, Ambo and Jimma, residents said. Four people were reported to have been shot in Ambo.
On Tuesday, Abiy had warned against media owners “fomenting unrest”. That night, security forces surrounded Jawar’s house and the government attempted to withdraw his security detail, Jawar told the media.
The next morning, at least 400 young men from the Oromo ethnic group chanting support for Jawar and against Abiy, the winner of this year’s Nobel peace prize. Around two dozen police officers stood nearby.
Jawar, an Ethiopian-born U.S. citizen, is an activist from the Oromo ethnic group, the country’s largest. Abiy is also an Oromo.
At least 20 young men caught up in demonstrations in the outskirts of the capital were wounded and one was killed, a local businessman said at the Alert Hospital, where he said he had gone to help a wounded friend.
In Adama, 90 km southeast of the capital, two residents said they heard gunshots amid protests in support of Jawar there on Wednesday afternoon. It was not immediately clear who fired the shots.
In Ambo, 100 km from the capital, police fired teargas and bullets at thousands of protesters, and at least four people were shot.
There were also demonstrations in the city of Jimma, 350 km from Addis Ababa, residents said.
Jawar, founder of the independent Oromia Media Network, returned to Ethiopia from the United States last year after Abiy come to power and the two have been photographed repeatedly together since.
On Tuesday Abiy issued a warning in a speech before parliament: “Those media owners who don’t have Ethiopian passports are playing both ways,” he said. “When there is peace you are playing here, and when we are in trouble you not here.
“We tried to be patient. But if this is going to undermine the peace and existence of Ethiopia … we will take measures. You can’t play both ways.”
Abiy came to power in April 2018 and began introducing political and economic reforms. Those reforms have opened up what was once one of Africa’s most repressive nations, but also stoked violence along ethnic lines. Dozens, including the army chief, were killed during a foiled coup by a rogue state militia in the Amhara region in June.
Ethiopia is due to hold elections next year. — NNN-AGENCIES
