Ethiopia: PM says protest death toll rises to 86
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said on Sunday that the death toll from violent protests last month now stands at 86 people.
Speaking at a news conference, which was televised by state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting, the prime minister revealed the new figure and urged people to resist calls from protesters to continue demonstrations. He warned the protests threaten to compromise progress in Ethiopia as his government seeks to heal long-running ethnic tensions across the country.
PM reveals new protest death toll
Late last week, the government stated the death toll from the recent wave of protest violence was 78 people. However, speaking in front of journalists from local news organisations on Sunday, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed revealed the official death toll now stands at 86.
The PM said 82 men were killed in the protest violence while four women were also killed. He also stated that 76 of those were killed in “communal clashes” while 10 were killed in “confrontations with security forces,” suggesting the majority of violence was ethnically charged.
Abiy said 50 people from the Oromo ethnic group, Ethiopia’s largest demographic, were killed while 20 were killed from the Amhara ethnic group, which is the second-largest in the country.
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