ADVERTISEMENT
  • The Membership Club
  • PT Hausa
  • About Us
  • Advert Rates
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
Thursday, March 4, 2021
Premium Times Nigeria
  • Home
  • COVID-19
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Opinion
  • Health
    • News Reports
    • Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Health Specials
    • Features
    • Events
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Research & Innovation
    • Data & Infographics
    • Special Reports/Features
    • Investigations
    • Interviews
    • Markets
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • Projects
    • Parliament Watch
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • AGAHRIN
  • Home
  • COVID-19
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Opinion
  • Health
    • News Reports
    • Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Health Specials
    • Features
    • Events
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Research & Innovation
    • Data & Infographics
    • Special Reports/Features
    • Investigations
    • Interviews
    • Markets
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • Projects
    • Parliament Watch
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • AGAHRIN
Premium Times Nigeria
BUA Group Ad BUA Group Ad BUA Group Ad
ADVERTISEMENT
Scores of Ethiopians killed in stampede after police fire warning shots during protest

File photo of protests in Ethiopia in October, 2016

Scores of Ethiopians killed in stampede after police fire warning shots during protest

byAgency Report
October 2, 2016
2 min read

Report says scores of Ethiopians have been killed as police fired warning shots and teargas in Oromiya region on Sunday to disperse anti-government protesters at a religious festival, triggering a stampede.

It said that even though government did not give a precise death toll resulting from chaotic scenes during the annual festival, yet the opposition party said no less that 50 people were killed.

According to the report, government merely announced at the festival where some people chanted slogans against the government and waved a rebel group’s flag, that “lives were lost” and that several were injured”.

Meanwhile, witnesses said that sporadic protests have erupted in Oromiya in the last two years, initially sparked by a land row but increasingly turning more broadly against the government.

They added that since late 2015, scores of protesters have been killed in clashes with police.

They said that the developments highlight tensions in the country where the government has delivered stellar economic growth rates but faced criticism from opponents and rights group that it has trampled on political freedoms.

“Thousands of people had gathered for the annual Irreecha festival of thanksgiving in the town of Bishoftu, about 40 km Addis Ababa.

“Crowds chanted “we need freedom” and “we need justice”, preventing community elders, deemed close to the government, from delivering their speeches at the festival,’’ they said.

The witnesses said that some protesters waved the red, green and yellow flag of the Oromo Liberation Front, a rebel group branded a “terrorist” organisation by the government,.

RelatedNews

VIDEO: Nigeria receives 3.94 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines

Blood On Uniforms (1): Inside extra-judicial killings by police officers enforcing COVID-19 lockdown

VIDEO: Nigeria to receive COVID-19 vaccines Tuesday – Official

VIDEO: How bandits terrorised Kagara for years before students abduction

They said that when police fired teargas and guns into the air, crowds fled and created a stampede, some of them plunging into a deep ditch.

The witnesses said they saw people dragging out a dozen or more victims, showing no obvious sign of life.

“Half a dozen people, also motionless, were also seen being taken by pick-up truck to a hospital.

Dangote adbanner 728x90_2 (1)

They noted that the government communications office said in a statement, without giving figures that “As a result of the chaos, lives were lost and several of the injured were taken to hospital, and those responsible will face justice.”

Merera Gudina, Chairman of the opposition Oromo Federalist Congress, said that not less than 50 people were killed, adding that his group had been talking to families of the victims.

He said the government tried to use the event to show Oromiya was calm, but residents still protested.

Meanwhile, government has blamed the rebel groups and dissidents abroad for stirring up the protests and provoking violence.

It dismissed the charges that it clamped down on free speech or its opponents.

Protesters had chanted slogans against Oromo People’s Democratic Organisation, one of the four regional parties that make up the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front, which has ruled the country for quarter of a century.

ADVERTISEMENT

In a 2015 parliamentary election, opposition parties failed to win a single seat – down from just one in the previous parliament.

Opponents accused the government of rigging the vote, a charge government officials dismissed.

Protests in Oromiya province initially flared in 2014 over a development plan for the capital that would have expanded its boundaries, a move seen as threatening farmland.

Scores have been killed since late in 2015 and this year as protests gathered pace, although the government shelved the boundary plan earlier this year.

(Reuters/NAN)

  • WhatsApp
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print
  • Telegram
  • More
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Pocket

Support PREMIUM TIMES' journalism of integrity and credibility

Good journalism costs a lot of money. Yet only good journalism can ensure the possibility of a good society, an accountable democracy, and a transparent government.

For continued free access to the best investigative journalism in the country we ask you to consider making a modest support to this noble endeavour.

By contributing to PREMIUM TIMES, you are helping to sustain a journalism of relevance and ensuring it remains free and available to all.

Donate


TEXT AD: To advertise here . Call Willie +2347088095401...



JOIN THE CONVERSATION

  • Disqus (0)
premiumtimes



PT Mag Campaign AD

Previous Post

Nigeria to deport Jamaican, four Cameroonians

Next Post

Insurgency: Nigerians indebted to President Buhari – Governor Bindow

Agency Report

Agency Report

More News

African Development Bank (AfDB)

African Development Bank approves $27 million loan to Egypt for solar plant

March 3, 2021
War crimes suspect Alieu Kosiah in the Swiss Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona. New Narratives/Leslie Lumeh

‘Kosiah raped me four times,’ Swiss court hears

February 23, 2021
Singer-turned-politician Robert Kyagulanyi, better known as Bobi Wine. [PHOTO CREDIT: Twitter handle of Bobi]

Uganda’s Bobi Wine withdraws court case disputing presidential election results – Reports

February 22, 2021
Mogadishu on the map of Somalia

Gunfire erupts in Mogadishu as Somali government forces seal off streets

February 19, 2021
The Federal courthouse in Bellinzona, Switzerland where the war crimes trial of Alieu Kosiah is being held. New Narratives/James Harding Giahyue

Kosiah ‘ordered teacher butchered, eaten’, alleged victim tells court

February 18, 2021
Troops of the United Nations in Congo [PHOTO CREDIT: TRT World]

Killings by armed groups in DR Congo worry UN refugee agency

February 17, 2021
Next Post
Adamawa lawmakers get N1bn for ‘constituency projects’

Insurgency: Nigerians indebted to President Buhari - Governor Bindow

How lady I met in club stole my ATM, withdrew N300,000 – Victim

How lady I met in club stole my ATM, withdrew N300,000 - Victim

Discussion about this post

Search

#EndSARS: Latest Updates




Polaris Bank


JAIZ Ad


NITDA Ad





Glo Ad

Subscribe to News via Email

Enter your email address and receive notifications of news by email.

Join 1,627,660 other subscribers.

Advertisement






netherland biz school Advert



Zenith Advert

ADVERTISEMENT

Our Digital Network

  • PT Hausa
  • Election Centre
  • Human Trafficking Investigation
  • Centre for Investigative Journalism
  • National Conference
  • Press Attack Tracker
  • PT Academy
  • Dubawa
  • LeaksNG
  • Campus Reporter

Resources

  • Oil & Gas Facts
  • List of Universities in Nigeria
  • LIST: Federal Unity Colleges in Nigeria
  • NYSC Orientation Camps in Nigeria
  • Nigeria’s Federal/States’ Budgets since 2005
  • Malabu Scandal Thread
  • World Cup 2018
  • Panama Papers Game
  • Our Digital Network
  • About Us
  • Resources
  • Projects
  • Data & Infographics
  • DONATE

All content is Copyrighted © 2020 The Premium Times, Nigeria

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • COVID-19
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Health
    • News Reports
    • Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Health Specials
    • Features
    • Events
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Research & Innovation
    • Data & Infographics
    • Special Reports/Features
    • Investigations
    • Interviews
    • Markets
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • Projects
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • Parliament Watch
    • AGAHRIN
  • Opinion
  • PT Hausa
  • The Membership Club
  • Dubawa
    • Dubawa NG
  • About Us
  • Advert Rates
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
  • Digital Store
  • DONATE

All content is Copyrighted © 2020 The Premium Times, Nigeria

Our website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.