| Africa |  | | | Ethiopian police clash with students, workers |
| | Anthony Mitchell | Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | | | | | | 07 June 2005 12:38 | | Police raided a technical college in Ethiopia's capital on Tuesday, beating up students and firing rubber bullets on the second day of defiance of a government ban on demonstrations, witnesses said.
Clashes between police and student demonstrators on Monday left a girl dead, seven people injured and hundreds arrested in protests against disputed election results that left Parliament in the hands of the ruling party.
The army's special forces troops stood by in the capital for the second day on Tuesday, armed with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. Riot police with tear gas also stood ready as regular police quelled the demonstration in Addis Ababa.
On Tuesday, riot police in an armoured truck charged into the crowd of about 200 young people outside the college who had been staging a peaceful protest calling for the release of students detained on Monday. Officers beat up the protesters using butts of their rifles and batons.
About 100 students inside the college were rounded up by riot police and forced to sit on the ground after the crackdown on the Tuesday protest. Many students were escorted off the campus by police, holding bloody rags to their heads.
Construction workers threw stones at the police in support of the students, but several of them were soon arrested, as well as other non-students who joined the protest on Tuesday morning. About 50 people in all were taken away to be charged.
"The police came running into the college, beating students and hitting them over their heads with their batons. It was very scary and they were very aggressive and did not want to calm the situation down. It didn't last long, only five to 10 minutes, because we are young and they had guns and batons," said Liya Tsion (17), a student of information technology.
College vice-principal Assefa Akirso said the police should have consulted teachers before storming the building.
"The police were supposed to confirm with us they were going to come into the building, but they didn't," Assefa said. "I don't think it was fair what happened, but some of the students had been throwing stones."
A student with a gunshot wound in the stomach was in critical condition, according to doctors at the Black Lion hospital, the main medical facility in the capital.
Monday saw the first public protests against the May 15 legislative elections.
Demonstrations have been banned since election day, when the capital police were put under the control of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. Meles's party retained control of Parliament according to official election results that have not yet been ratified, but opposition parties alleged there was widespread election fraud.
The elections had been seen as a test of Meles's commitment to reform his sometimes-authoritarian regime. Before questions surfaced about the count, European Union observers had called the campaign and voting "the most genuinely competitive elections the country has experienced", despite some human rights violations.
Police detained an estimated 500 protesters in Addis Ababa and arrested between 200 and 300 protesters who were barring students from entering the main university on Monday, said Minister of Information Bereket Simon, who is also spokesperson for the ruling Ethiopia People's Revolutionary Front.
Ethiopia's state radio later reported that 370 students had been arrested and 50 "hooligans" detained for attempting to take advantage of the chaos. Another 150 students were arrested elsewhere in the country, a later statement said.
Berhanu Nega, vice-chairperson of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy, denied the charges, saying the party had urged students to hold off protests.
"Our worry is that the ruling party will use these protests as an excuse to crack down and resort to force," Berhanu said.
Provisional results show the ruling party has so far won 302 seats and its allies took another 26.
Opposition parties won 194 seats in the 547-seat Lower House of Parliament. They had come into the election with just 12 seats.
The opposition and ruling parties have alleged that gunmen intimidated voters, people were forced to vote for certain parties, ballot boxes were stuffed or disappeared, and the number of ballots in some constituencies exceeded the number of registered voters. -- Sapa-AP |
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