June 7, 2006
A year ago today
A year ago today, it was all about the students in Addis Ababa’s other colleges and universities.
Mid morning a friend called to say he had just driven past some sort of trouble brewing at Tegbareed Industrial College on the Mexico roundabout. On the way to the roundabout, we passed a technical-style open vehicle with Special Forces manning what looked like a mounted machine gun in the back. As we came round the corner from Mexico, pedestrians came running towards us, away from the federal police gathering outside the main gates.
Closer in, it was a chaotic scene. A handful of commuters huddled in a bus stop right outside the college gates. Students walked out of the college compound in small groups, crossing the road and stopping to watch what was going on. Federal police milled around in their now familiar riot gear.
The accounts we got were conflicting. Some of the onlookers claimed police had arrived early in the morning to arrest a handful of students – an action which provoked angry protests from inside the compound. One of the police said they had had to come in after students started throwing stones.
After twenty minutes, young men started to crowd together just down the hill from the gates and started waving their arms and shouting slogans. It was one of those awkward moments when you weren’t sure whether you were reporting an event or provoking one. The shouting certainly got louder whenever we went up to take photos.
Federal police stood in a loose line in front of them, happy just to contain and watch for the moment. As I wrote at the time:
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.
Just after 10.30am, the police decided it was time to take more decisive action. Federal police massed by the gates next to one of their vehicles. Some climbed in and they all moved towards the crowd which scattered. Youths were arrested and put into a line of open trucks down the road.
A small group of Federal Police also went up to the gate of a government compound, pointing their guns through the metalwork (see pic). They entered and eventually came out with a middle aged man in a dark blue suit walking in front of them. He argued with them. But one soldier knocked his cap off, and then arrested him. One of the group made a half-hearted attempt to take my camera but didn’t persist when I walked away.
Throughout the protest, police made efforts to break up interviews between journalists and students. A number of people who had spoken to us were arrested. As we left, one young man grabbed at my shirt to say he needed protection - that someone was going to take him away. He walked along with us for a bit then melted into the crowd.
Posted by aheavens at June 7, 2006 10:55 AM