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Fourth day of Ethiopian violence
By Jinaro Mburu/Agencies ( Friday, November 04, 2005)
Shots were heard in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, on Friday, in a fourth day of clashes between opposition supporters and the police.
Reuters reports that police shot in the air to disperse protesters near the African Union headquarters, and groups of youths were arrested.
Hospitals say more than 40 people have died in political violence this week.The riots are part of protests against the general election in May, which the governing party won amid fraud claims.
The opposition says voting and counting were rigged.On Thursday, three people were shot dead in a wealthy neighbourhood where many of the city's expatriate community live.
Doctors told reporters of more than 150 people coming to hospital wounded in clashes between stone-throwing opposition supporters and police. Many of those killed had been shot.
The United States has appealed for calm and a State Department spokesman urged the government to remove restrictions on political groups, and to appoint an independent commission to examine the cause of the violence.
The main opposition party, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), resumed protests this week after its members refused to attend parliamentary sessions.
They are the worst disturbances in Africa's second most populous country since protests ignited after the May elections when some 36 people died and hundreds were arrested.
Security officers have arrested all 15 members of the CUD's Central Committee and about 1,000 supporters according to a lawyer for the party.
The BBC's Mohammed Adow in Addis Ababa said clashes between police and protestors that erupted early on Wednesday morning, spread across the city, reaching the doorstep of the British and French embassies.
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