Seven, including two children, killed in clashes with police in Aweday, Eastern Ethiopia

Funeral rally in Aweday. (Photo: Social media)

ESAT News (July 2, 2016)

A local administrator in Aweday, East Hararge shot and killed three, two of them children as police opened fire on residents who had gathered for a fund raising event for two individuals whose businesses were gutted by fire.

Residents of Aweday told ESAT that they were holding a fundraising for a barber shop and a cell phone store that were destroyed by fire when local police opened fire to stop the fundraising. A total of seven people were killed, according to the residents who spoke to ESAT.

Chairman of Kebele 01 (a local administration), Abdi Idris shot indiscriminately at the gathering killing two children and an adult, while police killed four others.

The raged residents went straight to the chairman’s two houses and set them ablaze. The chairman escaped to Harar as police took his family out of Aweday.

Highways leading to Aweday were shut down by the protesters. Banks and government offices also remained closed.