ESAT News (August 16, 2016)
Residents of the town of Debremarkos in Gijam went on strike on Tuesday after a meeting between their representatives and local authorities went sour. The residents demanded at the meeting for the release of their compatriots detained on Saturday’s protests, to which the officials responded in the negative.
The representatives, having been told by the officials that the detainees would not be released, called on the residents of the town to go on strike. Government offices and businesses were closed after lunch on Tuesday and the protesters vowed to continue with their strike till their demands were met, according to residents of the town who spoke to ESAT. Transportation in the town was also brought to a halt.
Several people were detained by the regime’s security forces following last Saturday’s protest demonstration in the town that called for the end of the despotic regime.
Meanwhile, the stay at home protest in Gondar continued for the third day on Tuesday. Government offices and businesses remained closed and people in general stayed home; but few were seen heading to Churches and Mosques clad in black attires to mourn those killed by security forces.
Over one hundred people were shot and killed by security forces in just one week alone in protests in the Oromo and Amhara regions demanding the removal of the despotic TPLF regime.