ADDIS ABABA - Police fired gunshots and
teargas as thousands protested in Ethiopia on Wednesday over the
treatment of a prominent activist, residents said, in a sign
that the country's Nobel Prize-winning prime minister might be
losing support among his powerbase.
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 other parts of the capital
and to the cities of Adama, Ambo, Harar and Jimma, residents
said. Several people were reported to have been killed in Addis
Ababa and Harar.
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 Reuters.
The next morning, a Reuters witness saw 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.
Abiy has won international praise for his sweeping political
reforms but greater freedoms have lifted the lid on
long-repressed tensions between Ethiopia's many ethnic groups.
Abiy must walk a delicate line between increasing political
freedoms and reigning in strongmen building ethnic powerbases by
demanding more access to land, power and resources for their
groups.
Jawar, an Ethiopian-born U.S. citizen, is an activist from
the Oromo ethnic group, the country's largest. Abiy is also an
Oromo.
Jawar's wide reach - his Facebook page has 1.75 million
followers - means he can quickly mobilise demonstrators.
Some Ethiopians have criticised him for using ethnically
tinged language, but many young Oromo men consider him a hero
who brought the political change that resulted in Abiy's
appointment last year.
SHOWDOWN
At least 20 young men caught up in demonstrations on the
outskirts of the capital were wounded and one was killed, a
local businessman told Reuters by phone from Alert Hospital,
where he said he had gone to help a wounded friend.
After the showdown in the capital, demonstrations spread to
other cities, residents told Reuters.
In Adama, 90 km (50 miles) 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 (60 miles) from the capital, police fired
teargas and bullets at thousands of protesters, and at least
four people were shot, two residents who spoke on condition of
anonymity told Reuters.
There were demonstrations in the city of Jimma, 350 km (220
miles) from Addis Ababa, residents said.
Violence also broke out in parts of the capital. Reuters
spoke to a 26-year-old protester wearing a T-shirt with Jawar's
face on it as he lay on the floor of the Black Lion Hospital in
Addis Ababa waiting to be treated.
"Police hit me repeatedly with iron bars and broke my left
arm and my left leg," Gemechu Qitata said. He had been
protesting in Jemo, a southwestern district of the capital.
Protests also erupted in Harar, 500 km (300 miles) east of
Addis Ababa, where a police officer told Reuters that a peaceful
protest became chaotic when demonstrators began burning tires
and blocking roads. The officer, speaking on condition of
anonymity, said some protesters were killed but he did not know
how many or who had killed them.
Shimelis Abdisa, vice president of the Oromiya region, said
what had happened on Wednesday was a "major mistake" and called
for an investigation.
MEDIA NETWORK
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 to 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."
A spokeswoman for Abiy's office did not respond to requests
for comment. Abiy met Russian President Vladimir Putin on
Wednesday at a Russia-Africa summit in the Russian city of
Sochi, according to the Twitter feed of Abiy's office.
Abiy came to power in April 2018. His 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.