The blue skies over the city of Bahir Dar were covered in smokes on
Monday, on this deadly day of protest against TPLF oligarchy, as people
in the Amhara region of Gondar and Gojam intensified their defiance
against the Tigrayan minority rule. Trails of smokes were rising all day
into the skies of the city of Bahir Dar as protesters burnt tires on
the streets and set ablaze businesses affiliated with the regime as well
as houses of officials and spies of the regime.
Several towns
and localities in the Amhara region were declared free of the control of
the TPLF regime and the people in these areas have established their
interim administration and security led by religious figures and elders.
In Gondar, between Hamusit and Wereta, on a bridge called
Gumara, 7 members of the federal police and 4 farmers were killed in a
gun battle on Monday. Four people were also reportedly killed by regime
forces in Simada.
The stay-at-home protest in Bahir Dar turned
into a street protest when regime forces attacked a group of vigilante
youth who were raising funds and helping the poor in the city. The
residents then took to the streets and burned tires and attacked
businesses affiliated with the regime. At least four people were shot
and killed by regime forces in Bahir Dar on Monday and several others
were wounded.
Main roads connecting Bahir Dar, the political and
business hub of northern Ethiopia and the seat of the Amhara regional
government, were closed on Monday and gunfire could be heard all day,
according to sources who spoke to ESAT. High ranking officials of the
region and their families flew to Addis Ababa on Monday, according to a
source who spoke to ESAT.
Details are scanty but in Tis Abay, in a
place called Genji, 30 kms from Bahir Dar, armed farmers have engaged
regime forces in gun battle.
In Meshenti town, two horticultural
farms were set on fire by protesters, turning the flower fields into
ashes. One person is feared dead in Meshaenti in Monday’s protest. The
town of Merawi declared itself free from the TPLF rule as local
officials and police have left the town. Protesters burnt the houses of
the officials and police as well as businesses affiliated with the TPLF.
Similarily, in Dangla, protesters burnt houses and businesses belonging
to the local administrators and search by the protesters into the house
of a notorious police known for his cruelty found that he has hidden 50
quintals of sugar, 50 containers of edible oil as well as 4 weapons.
Residents set the officer’s house and vehicle on fire. Also burnt to the
ground was a house belonging to a member of the TPLF who shot and
injured several people.
In Gondar, Amba Giorgis, residents
stopped a truck loaded with 500 cases of beer, dump the beer and used
the plastic cases to block the highway. Two trucks carrying 32 cattle
were also stopped at Amba Giorgis. The trucks were let go after the
residents confiscated the cattle. The beer and cattle trucks were
targeted by the protesters as the businesses belong to the regime
business empire.
In Belesa, armed farmers in 11 buses were
heading to Maksegnit to back up the residents of the town who were under
attack by regime forces. A standoff ensued and continued for hours on
Monday when regime forces stopped the buses.
North Gondar, South
Gondar, West Gojam, Awi and East Gojam are areas in the Amhara region
that were freed from TPLF control over the weekend. Protesters in theses
towns and localities have replaced the regime flag with the Ethiopian
flag.
The regime meanwhile sent over 2000 Agazi Special Forces to
the Amhara region over the weekend to squash the ongoing protest. The
people in the Amhara region were alerted on the coming of the forces and
they have blocked main highways reaching several towns in the region.
What began few weeks ago as a protest against the forceful
incorporation of the people of Wolkait, Tegede and Telemt, and their
land into the Tigray region has now grown into a demand for the removal
of the brutal regime in Addis Ababa, where Tigrayans control every
aspect of the lives of the people. Protesters in Amhara and Oromo
regions demand for the end of a complete domination of the country by
one ethnic group that represents only 5% of the population.
At least 700 people in the Oromo region and 200 in the Amhara have been brutally murdered by TPLF forces.
ESAT
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