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source allafrica.com Addis Ababa — Ethiopian police clashed with Muslim protesters on Saturday in Addis Ababa’s west side after days of massive protest in the country’s capital, Garowe Online reports.
Clashes between protesters and riot police erupted on Saturday after police try to disperse the protesters who have been staging sit-ins and protests over the past week in Addis Ababa.
According to local sources, hundreds of protestors were arrested and many more detained for several hours, some even days before being released.
Some reports indicate that the riot police fired tear gas at protestors who in turn threw stones back at the riot police.
The Muslim demonstrators have been protesting about Muslims being marginalized in the Ethiopian government despite making up almost 1/3 of the Ethiopian population according to official statistics.
That number which is steadily increasing is predicted to make Muslims the majority population in the country by 2050.
Demonstrators have been holding mosque sit-ins and protests and according to some media outlets in between 500,000 to 1 million people staged protests leading up to and after the African Union Summit which was held last Monday.
There were reports of deaths in previous protests, however there have been no confirmations on any deaths in Saturday’s protests.
Although some reporters have stated that the protests are as big as Egypt’s revolutionary Tahrir Square protests, the Addis Ababa protests have not received much attention by Ethiopia state controlled television as well as international media.
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