Dispatches: Yet Again, a Bloody Crackdown on Protesters in Ethiopia
Student protests are spreading throughout Ethiopia’s Oromia region, as people demonstrate against the possibility that Oromo farmers and residents living near the capital, Addis Ababa, could be evicted from their lands without appropriate – or possibly any – compensation. Social media is filled with images of bloodied protesters; there are credible reports of injuries and arrests in a number of towns; and local police have publicly acknowledged that three students have died so far. EXPAND Ethiopian migrants, all members of the Oromo community of Ethiopia living in Malta, protest against the Ethiopian regime outside the office of Malta's Prime Minister in Valletta June 16, 2014. © 2014 Reuters The current protests echo the bloody events of April and May 2014 , when federal forces fired into groups of largely peaceful Oromo protesters, killing dozens. At least hundreds more students were arrested, and many remain behind bars. Both then and today, the demonstrators ar