Ethiopia: 'Several' killed in Oromia festival stampede

Photo Credits: Stampede during protest at religious festival in Ethiopia, opposition says 50 dead

Ethiopia: 'Several' killed in Oromia festival stampede

Police fire tear gas at protesters during festivalinstigating deadly stampede

Some protesters waved the red, green and yellow flag of the Oromo Liberation Front, a rebel group branded a "terrorist" organisation by the government, witnesses said.

Rueters

ADDIS ABAB

Police in Ethiopia's Oromiya region fired teargas and warning shots on Sunday to disperse anti-government protesters at a religious festival, triggering a stampede that the opposition party said killed at least 50 people.

The government did not give a precise death toll resulting from chaotic scenes during the annual festival where some people chanted slogans against the government and waved a rebel group's flag. But it said "lives were lost" and that several were injured.

"As a result of the chaos, lives were lost and several of the injured were taken to hospital," the government communications office said in a statement, without giving exact figures. "Those responsible will face justice."

There were conflicting death toll reports following the stampede in Bishoftu on Sunday. An AFP photographer at the scene said he saw 15-20 unmoving bodies, some of whom were clearly dead.

An Associated Press report said "several dozens" have died.

An estimated two million people were attending the annual Irrecha event in Bishoftu town, 40km southeast of the capital. The event took place in one of the country's most sensitive regions, Oromia, which has seen several months of sometimes deadly protests demanding wider freedoms.

Merera Gudina, chairperson of the opposition Oromo Federalist Congress, told Reuters news agency at least 50 people were killed when people fled after police fired tear gas and shots in the air to disperse anti-government protesters at a crowded religious festival.

The government and opposition often give different accounts for casualties during protests.

Crowds chanted "we need freedom" and "we need justice" and prevented community elders, deemed close to the government, from delivering their speeches at a religious festival, prompting police to fire tear gas that caused the stampede.

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

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

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, one witness said.

Jawar Mohammed, Executive Director Oromia Media Network said more than 175 people were killed when people fled after police fired teargas and shots in the air to disperse anti-government protesters at the crowded festival.

“#OromoProtests 175 dead bodies have been loaded and taken to Addis Ababa according to police source. Thats in addition to over 120 at Bishoftu hospital,” he posted on his verified Facebook page.

These 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.

Sporadic protests have erupted in Oromia region in the last two years, initially sparked by a land row and increasingly turning more broadly against the government.

According to New York-based Human Rights Watch, at least 500 people have been killed by security forces since the demonstrations began in November.

Though protests started among the Oromo - Ethiopia's biggest ethnic group - they later spread to the Amhara, the second-most largest in the country.

Both groups say the ruling coalition is dominated by the Tigray ethnic group, which makes up only about six percent of the population.

What is triggering Ethiopia's unrest?

Small protests in Oromia province initially flared in 2014 over a development plan for the capital that would have expanded its boundaries, a move seen as threatening the seizure of farmland.

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

The government has denied that violence from the security forces is systemic, though a spokesman has previously told Al Jazeera that police officers "sometimes take the law into their own hands", pledging an independent investigation.

The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front last month rejected a United Nations request to send in observers, saying it alone was responsible for the security of its citizens.