ETHIOPIA: Clashes between police and protesters erupted in gunfire and grenade explosions yesterday, with police killing at least 33 people. It was the second day of renewed demonstrations against Ethiopia's disputed elections, a rights group said.
The independent Ethiopia Human Rights Council said in a statement sent to foreign embassies that the death toll was based on bodies brought to mortuaries in Addis Ababa yesterday.
Hundreds of heavily armed riot police were deployed across the capital as heavy machine gun fire, rifle fire and loud explosions rocked Addis Ababa.
Armoured personnel carriers carrying Ethiopia's special forces patrolled streets littered with burning tyres and broken glass.
The fighting spread across the city, reaching the doorsteps of the British, French, Kenyan and Belgian embassies - all located in different parts of the capital. Workers at UN headquarters were told not to leave their offices.
At least 150 civilians were wounded in yesterday's clashes, including a seven-year-old boy who was shot in the hip, doctors at the Black Lion, Zewditu, Paulos and Ras Desta hospitals said. The doctors said 23 dead bodies were brought to five hospitals. Information was not immediately available from other medical facilities.
An Associated Press reporter saw federal police surround Zewditu hospital, dragging out and arresting young men.
The violence followed clashes on Tuesday between protesters and police that killed eight people and wounded 43 others.
It had erupted after 30 taxi drivers were arrested on Monday for demonstrating against the May 15th parliamentary elections. The elections gave the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, the party of prime minister Meles Zenawi, control of 60 per cent of parliament.
Opposition parties made strong gains, but say the vote and counting were marred by fraud, intimidation and violence.
Security officers arrested all 15 members of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy's central committee and about 1,000 supporters, a lawyer who works for the opposition party said.