June 7, 2005
Trouble in Mexico
Violence flared up in Addis Ababa again today and this time I was at the heart of it taking photos for Reuters.
According to one student who spoke to me minutes before he was arrested, the trouble started after police arrived at Addis Ababa Tegbareed Industrial Technology College in the Mexico area of the city at around 8am (local ferenji time) and started detaining students. A policeman contradicted this story saying officers arrived following reports of students throwing stones.
The student said: "People were crying and shouting 'leave them alone'. They were so angry. We want to fight them. We can not tolerate the EPRDF any more."
The student, who asked not to be named, said that police then loaded an unspecified number of students into the back of a row of trucks at around 8.30 am local time and drove them off.
"There were so many police. They wanted to take the people away from here. The students have so many problems. They don't feel they have any guarantees in life."
Police cleared the road outside the college through the morning. But drivers and minibus passengers in the other carriageway leant out of windows to appeal to police and journalists, shouting "how is this fair" and "see what is happening." A handful of women also remonstrated with federal police at a bus stop outside the college gates but were soon ushered away.
By about 10.30am another group of students started gathering in the street and shouting at the armed police. The police then climbed into an open-top truck and drove towards the crowd, which scattered.
Police wielding batons then chased them, arrested them and put them in a truck. A number of youths were arrested after talking to journalists at the scene. Whenever we tried to talk to someone, soldiers arrived to clear them away.
For me the most frightening incident was when four police charged into the compound of a local government office on the other side of the road of the college. About four men were arrested - I'm not sure why. One middle aged man, pictured bottom right, was kicked, shoved and had his hat knocked off his head. I also saw police chasing and kicking people the other side of the gates.
Click on the pics to make them bigger. There are more available on Flickr.
Posted by aheavens at June 7, 2005 11:49 AM