October 3,2016
Ireecha is a highly regarded religious festival for Ethiopians who speak Oromo language and is celebrated on a yearly basis in the town of Bishoftu ( name used to be Debre Zeit) . Yet, other Ethiopians celebrate it in a show of respect for its cultural value. For example, hundreds of people have traveled all the way from remote areas of Amhara region to attend the festival.
While celebrating the day, meant to be thanksgiving to ‘waqqa’ (God), the crowed -which is estimated to be two millions- also remembered Ethiopians who are killed by the regime in power and showed protest sign , peacefully so as shown in the video.
The response was totally uncalled for and caused for the death of civilians. Activists in social media with connection in Ethiopia put the figure to well over 300. International media outlets like Bloomberg put the figure only to 100. Regime admitted only 59 deaths so far.
In the months of July and August, the regime killed over 500 civilians in Amhara and Oromo regions of Ethiopia.
Protest,reportedly, is reinvigorated again in many areas of the Oromia region following the tragic incident -essentially manufactured by the regime in power.
From the past experiences, most recent cases being killings in areas mentioned above, the regime is likely to continue taking away civilian lives simply because they demand change. And it seems unlikely for the people to drop the demand for change.
How many more civilians have to sacrifice their lives before government understands what people want : change.
borkena
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