Italian journalist in Ethiopia seeks refuge in embassy

ROME, June 10 (AFP) — Journalist Emilio Manfredi sought refuge Friday in the Italian embassy in Addis Ababa saying he considered he was in danger because of articles he wrote about violent clashes in the Ethiopian capital this week, an embassy official told AFP.

Manfredi, who works for the web-based PeaceReporter news service “told us that police visited his apartment and that he felt threatened,” said an embassy official, who asked to remain anonymous.

In a report posted to the PeaceReporter site, Manfredi said he went to the embassy when he saw federal police waiting for him outside his home.

The journalist was arrested earlier this week, but released on the intervention of the embassy.

He covered the violence between police and demonstrators protesting alleged fraud in last month’s parliamentary election, and filed graphic accounts and pictures from a hospital where the dead and injured were taken.

Ethiopian authorities have said 26 people were killed in the violence.