Mass arrest in the Amhara region as clashes escalate

By Engidu Woldie

ESAT News (September 8, 2016)

Ethiopian regime security forces have been rounding upthousands of people in the Amhara region amidst ongoing strikes and uprising calling for the end of the tyrannical regime. Weeks of protests in the Amhara region left at least 150 people killed by TPLF security forces who shot indiscriminately at protesters.

Sources who talked to ESAT in Gondar, Bahir Dar and Finoteselam said regime security forces have been arresting thousands of youth alleged to have been involved in the protests. Several hundreds of youth and elders alike were arrested in Bahir Dar and were taken to the Bir Sheleko military training camp.

Close 600 of the 1500 youth detained in Bahir Dar were transferred to Bir Sheleko. A source told ESAT that the youth were beaten and abused while in detention. Some of those tortured died in detention and were buried at the premises of the prisons, according to witness accounts.

Similarly, according sources in Gondar, hundreds of people have been arrested over the last several days and taken to Bir Sheleko and other undisclosed locations. The sources said even elders were not spared from the arrests.

Meanwhile, armed farmers in Gondar ambushed and killed seven regime soldiers, including two snipers in Gondar. A source who spoke to ESAT on the phone said the soldiers were attacked by the farmers as they headed to the Angereb prison to get custody of Col. Demeke Zewdu who is now the symbol of the resistance in the Amhara region against the TPLF regime. The Colonel was taken to the custody of the local police after he shot and killed two TPLF agents in July who showed up at his doorsteps to arrest him without a court warrant. Col. Demeke spearheads a movement by the people of Wolkait, Tegede and Telemt in a campaign to reclaim their ancestral land incorporated by the Tigray region 25 years ago.

According to the source nine others were injured in the ambush carried out as the soldiers were heading to the prison where the Colonel is held. There have been several attempt by the TPLF security to get custody of Colonel Demeke. But the local police refused to hand over the colonel as they fear a retaliation by the TPLF forces against the Colonel. Residents of Gondar have been demanding the Colonel to be freed and warn against any transfer of his custody that would endanger his life.