ESAT News (January 08, 2016)
Students at the Addis Ababa University and a number of higher institutions of learning in Oromia region boycotted food yesterday, on the day of Ethiopian Christmas, to show their solidarity with protesters who are staging rallies for the second month in the Oromia region of Ethiopia against the repressive minority government.
Higher learning institutions in Jimma have also left their Christmas lunch on the table and left the dining halls to show their support for the ongoing protest against government political and economic repression in Ethiopia.
Similarly, residents of Asebot and Tutisa towns in West Hararghe took to the streets yesterday denouncing the repressive regime which they said was taking away farmlands under the guise of “integrated development.”
The regime, meanwhile, is rounding up and detaining families of prominent politicians. The son of Bekele Gerba was picked up by the regime’s operatives from his campus at the University of Adama. Bekele himself, a leading Oromo politician, is under custody by the regime. Abezu Tafa, sister of Dejene Tafa, a leading member of the Oromo Federalist Congress, was also arrested yesterday.
Over 140 people were killed and nearly 5000 arrested in the last two months of protest in the Oromia Region against government land policies and political repression as well as marginalization by the minority regime against the people of Oromo.