At least 166 people died during violent demonstrations that rocked Ethiopia in the days after the murder of popular singer Haacaaluu Hundeessaa, police said Saturday.
The singer, a member of the Oromo ethnic group, the largest in Ethiopia, was shot dead by unknown attackers in Addis Ababa on Monday night, fueling ethnic tensions threatening the country’s democratic transition.
“Following Haacaaluu’s death, 145 civilians and 11 security forces have lost their lives in the unrest in the region,” Girma Gelam, deputy police commissioner for the Oromia region, said in a statement in the Fana Broadcasting Corporate, affiliated with the state.
Another 10 are known to have died in the capital Addis Ababa.
Girma said 167 others had “suffered serious injuries” and that 1,084 people had been arrested.
Authorities have attributed the deaths to a combination of deadly force by security officers and inter-ethnic violence.
Girma added that the violent riots had “completely stopped.”
Haacaaluu’s music gave voice to Oromos’ widespread sense of economic and political marginalization during years of anti-government protests that brought Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to power in 2018.
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