Muslims stage protest during Ethiopia’s Eid holiday
By Tesfa-Alem Tekle
August 8, 2013 (ADDIS ABABA) – Protests have overshadowed Ethiopia’s Eid al-Fitr celebrations, as millions of Muslims across the nation on Thursday marked the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
Tens of thousands of Muslims gathered at the Addis Ababa stadium from the early hours of Thursday morning to perform Eid prayers, before a crowd of Muslims staged a protest rally.
Muslim activists last week called for demonstrations during the religious day of Eid in protest at what they allege is the government’s meddling in religious affairs. The government has denied the allegations.
Protesters at Thursday’s celebrations – which were held amidst tight security – chanted slogans such as “Stop the crackdown on Muslims” and “Respect the constitutional rights of Muslims”.
The latest demonstration followed a deadly clash last week between “armed” Muslim protesters and police in Ethiopia’s Kofele district in the Oromya region, which led the killing of three policemen and left seven others injured.
Sudan Tribune has learnt that there were an unspecified numbers of arrests made following Thursday’s Eid protests
REPRESSIVE TACTICS
Meanwhile, Amnesty International has expressed concern over the latest incident, urging Ethiopian authorities to end its crackdown on Muslims and to respect their constitutional rights to hold peaceful demonstrations.
“We are extremely concerned at reports coming out of Ethiopia this morning of further widespread arrests of Muslim protesters”, said Claire Beston, Amnesty’s Ethiopia researcher.
“The Ethiopian government’s ongoing repressive crackdown on freedom of speech and the right to peacefully protest has to end now”, she added.
Amnesty condemned what the rights group described as the Ethiopian government’s use of repressive tactics against demonstrators.
An Ethiopian Muslim activist who spoke on condition of anonymity told Sudan Tribune that hundreds of Muslims were arrested during the last week of Ramadan fasting.
“Protests will continue after Eid as far as the Ethiopian government fails to meet our demands”, the activist said. “We demand the release of all jailed Muslim leaders and followers arrested for holding peaceful protests”.
The activist alleged that Muslims are being jailed on terrorism charges.
However, the Ethiopian government claims protesters are advancing their own hidden political agendas under the pretext of religion.
The government has also accused protesters of being extremists, who, inspired by foreign factors, are aiming to turn the dominantly Christian nation into an Islamic state.
Muslims represent one-third of the Horn of Africa nation’s 84 million population.
(ST