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Marching to confront a genocidal tyrant – update

Posted on , Updated on by EthiopianReview.com

6:30 PM – The demonstration at Columbia against the despot in Ethiopia is now over. The protesters are dispersing. Today’s demonstration has been exceedingly successful in that it has educated Columbia University and others about Zenawi’s dictatorship and the devastation it has caused in Ethiopia, exposed the two professors who are cheerleaders to African tyrants, and brought together several Ethiopians for action. Let’s get prepared for more actions that will defeat and destroy the Woyanne junta.

5:15 PM – Woyanne supporters stage a counter demonstration. Columbia Spectator has reported that Meles’ speech lasted 20 minutes. Read here.

4:50 PM – Hundreds of Ethiopians are currently holding a protest rally at Columbia University in New York where Meles Zenawi is invited to speak. Across the street, about 50 Woyanne supporters accompanied by Solomon Qindibu Tekalign are singing Tigrigna songs in support of Meles.

3:47 PM – A large crowd of protesters have now gathered at 115th and Broadway. Their number is increasing as more Ethiopians are arriving by train and cars. Columbia students with ID card are allowed to enter the campus and they are staging their own protest against the despot in front of Lerner Hall near Ronne Arledge Auditorium.

2:30 PM – The first bus that left DC has arrived in New York. Three other buses from the DC Metro Area and 2 buses from Boston will arrive at Columbia in the next few minutes. About 50 Woyanne supporters are already there to support their boss. We have been informed that some of them are Ethiopian Airlines staff and security guards who flew with him from Addis Ababa. The Woyanne-controlled Ethiopian mission at the U.S. has been sending out instructions to supporters of the regime through out eastern U.S. to come to Columbia.

12:52 PM – Freedom riders head to New York to join the protest against Meles Zenawi at Columbia University. … more update in a few minutes.

The University’s media center told Ethiopian Review that the event will not be broadcast live today, but a video will be posted online in a couple of days.

12:20 PM – One of the 4 large buses that is taking protesters to New York has stopped for break in Delaware. Here Ethiopians pose for photos during the break.

11:05 AM – Ethiopian protesters inside a bus heading to New York’s Columbia University from Washington DC to confront fascist dictator Meles Zenawi. More update shortly…

10:35 AM – The buses that left DC and Virginia are now arriving in Delaware. Prof. Bhagwati of Columbia University sent this message today:

Congratulations to Professor Vestal whose track record on Human Rights, especially in Ethiopia, is praiseworthy. It is good that he has also spoken out.

He endorses (as I did) the idea that Universities should be free to invite even tyrants to their campuses but that this must be accompanied by tough debate with them on their abusive record, rather than by encomiums to them drafted by academic entrepreneurs with personal agendas.

Aside from removing such inappropriate “sucking up” and offensive material from his website, and investigating how it got there so he does not get snookered again, I think that it is enough for President Bollinger (who is a champion of liberal values) to avoid appearing at the event. [Many academics on campus happened to strongly disagree with him when he himself attended the talk and strongly condemned the President of Iran, leading to unfortunate divisions on campus.]

Warm good wishes,
Professor Bhagwati
University Professor, Economics and Law

9:20 AM – Three buses full of protesters have already left the DC Metro Area and are heading to New York to confront Ethiopia’s brutal dictator Meles Zenawi today. A fourth bus is about to leave. Some Ethiopians are driving their own cars and taking train. Columbia University, where Meles will be speaking, is bracing for a large protest rally… more update and photos in a few minutes

35 thoughts on “Marching to confront a genocidal tyrant – update”

  4. Thank you Elias. How I wish I could be there. I am glued to the computer to hear more news. I am so proud of my fellow Ethiopians. I wish them a safe trip and a meaningful and a successful protest.

  6. Elias, you are showing that you and your paper stand behind Ethiopia and fight for justcie and equality.

    I am so thrilled to see many Ethiopians heading to Columbia to peacefully protest without fear of being thrown to jail or killed as would certainly have been the case if they had dared to do the same in Addis where Mr. Meles has full control.

    IT IS HIGH TIME TO CALL MELES AND HIS TEAM BACK TO ‘CLASS ROOM’ AFTER 20 YEARS OF RECESS’ AND MAKE THEM TAKE A TRUE TEST WHICH HE AND ALL OF US KNOWS HE WILL FAIL.

  7. I cannot wait to see Meles being asked about the ‘agri outsourcing and the looting of Ethiopia’ he is spear heading as we speak by giving away tracts of land for a penny (in some cases 15 birr/hecter per year.

  10. ሰላም ኤልያስ
    ወቅታዊውን ዜና እየተከታተልክ በትኩሱ እኛ አውሮፓ ላለነው ጭምር በማቅረብህ እናመሰግንሀለን፡፡ይህን ባንዳ የባንዳ ልጅ ዛሬ ለማዋረድ ከዲሲ ጭምር ለተጓዙት ውድ ኢትዮጵያውያን ፣ የከበረ ሰላምታዬንና አድናቆቴን አድርስልኝ፡፡

  13. I am proud of my Ethiopian sisters attending this important events . When you see women participating in Ethiopian politics that means the end of dictator melese is over. God bless Ethiopia and my ethiopian sisters

  15. Ethiopians ought to consider this “March to confront a genocial tyrant” as a modern day “SELMA to MONTGOMERY March” of the civil Rights Movements in the US.

    The difference is that this March is to protest the Grand Imperial Wizard, dictator Zenawi, from speaking at a rally sponsored by the modern day “Entrepreneurs”. These “wise men of letters” not only invited this dictator to this event, but also continue to praise him for implementing their “GAME THEORY” which happens to satsify the dictator’s desire for crimes against humanity.

    Free all political prisoners

    God Bless Ethiopia & please perish this dictator from the face of the earth.

  17. Thank you Elias.
    I hope the University of Columbia students that have plan to attend Dictator Meles’s speech, have done some research on the Prime Minister Meles’s Human Rights Abuse, so that they can ask him tough questions and don‘t get easily manipulated by a master manipulator dictator. Meles that has criminal records with Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, shouldn’t have been given a platform to address the prestigious University students. Since Meles has taken power, only his ethnic group and a handful of greedy Ethiopians have benefited and have become multimillionaires, running the poorest country in the world. According to UN, 12 million Ethiopians depend on Food Aid and about 5 to 7 million Ethiopians are expected to die of starvation. Ethiopians have no freedom of speech, and thousands of Ethiopians have been incarcerated for life for speaking out against Mele. Countless number of Ethiopians have been killed since Meles has taken power. The crimes of Meles are endless. Shame on Columbia University organizers who scheduled this event, to let a bloody hand dictator to address their students.

  20. Here from London our thougt is with the protesters. You might be hundreds or thousands in number, however you represent the feeling of millions in Ethiopia and in other part of the world. May God bless you!!!!

  22. I beleive this flesh eater despo finally findas out who we are and what we stand for. I congradulate Ethiopians for religating this idiot to the lowest level that only the Iranian despo (his friend) has been. Long live Ethiopia.

  24. this is to the guy that is wearing a t-shirt saying “stop zeregnet”, did you know that solomon tekalgn cant even speak tigrigna let alone sing it. yet look up and read what elias wrote. so the question is who is your slogan targeted at?

  25. Exactly 50 years from Mussolini’s invasion, Woyane army led by Melese, the “Brown Mussolini”, entered our capital.

    20 years later with totally rigged elections claiming to get 99.8% of Ethiopians vote, he remains the leader of the very Liberation front representing his own self obsessed ethnic line at the expense of the rest of Ethiopia.

    Therefore, We Ethiopians totally and unequivocally refused to accept this man who got at the helm of political power for being the worst possible enemy of our beloved country.

    We shall overcome this Neo-Mussolini’s who perfectly championed the ageless dream of colonial power against our nation. Soon the legacy of Woyane including its embodiment will be piled in the hip ash of history.

    Bertu

  27. Thank you Elias for keeping us updated. To those who went all the way to Columbia to express their opposition, they deserve to be thanked.

    But the opposition diaspora needs better strategizing. Meles & co are always one step ahead, planning well ahead like chess-players. Now who would’ve thought they would be staging a counter-opposition?? Let’s be honest.

    It’s not enough to sacrifice time, money, and energy if you don’t plan one,two or even ten steps ahead (what would the opponent do in this scenario? you know, hypothetical cases). The opposition in the diaspora needs to learn this crucial tool if it is to be more effective.

    Ene eko yehe hulu tekawami beminchachabet gize, bemengest degafiwoch bekul zemeta sibeza negeru altamegnem neber. Lekas demtsachewen ateftew serachewen eyeseru norwal!

    I think this should be another lesson from which the opposition has to learn, if it is to be more effective in the future. By any means, there is also a need to infiltrate the government supporters to get vital info and to prepare effectively. Infiltration is possible at least in the diaspora, where one doesn’t risk his/her life if caught.

    Anyways, bertu … ena asebubet … Elias thank you once again.

  28. Those of you who have came out in support of your master (Melese), including Solomon Tekalegn, everybody knows why you did that. You are given an instruction to do, you don’t you know and I know what will happen to you. You also know what you are thinking when you accept the order from your will fully subjugated MASTERS!
    KNOW THAT WE ETHIOPIANS AND YOURSELVES KNOW IT.

  29. I appreciate all the Ethiopians who protested against tyrant Meles to day to give voice for the muzzled Ethiopians. Thank you for standing up for the countless number of innocent Ethiopians who are locked up in jail and being mistreated, beaten and abused in a daily basis in woyane prison. And for all the thousands Ethiopian victims that had been gunned down by Meles’s personal army. You should all feel good and be proud for honoring all the Ethiopian victims. What a great feeling! You make us all proud!

    May the two professors and the Woyanes who lack conscience that stood in support of the biggest lire, looter, torturer and killer of innocent Ethiopians, dictator Meles, be covered with full of shame and guilt. May the souls of the innocent Ethiopian victims, haunted them and their children for generations where ever they go. May the supporters of Meles bother by the agony and the cries of Meles victims parents. What kind of people support a heartless evil murderer—- I wouldn’t support Meles, even if he was my father. One murder is too many let alone thousands. One case of power abuse Meles has done to Birtukan is bad enough, let alone to millions of Ethiopians. What a bunch of shameless group of people! What a disgrace!

  30. Today at Columbia people learned that One ethnic group is the whole government. It is getting ugly one ethnic against the rest Ethiopian. We have to know not all tigreans support what he is doing only those who benfets.

  31. Great Job!!!
    My heartfelt thanks and congrats to Elias and all tru sons/daughters of Ethiopia who have supported and participated, in any way, in this encouraging anti-tyrancy-aknowledgment movement.
    This way we can bring together protests, all over the world, as effective tools atleast to inculcate, disîllusion, and expose out the true image/identity of the self-avowing-still-illussitive fascist dictatorship in Ethiopia, the reputedly machiavellian tyrant meles zenawi., and ofcourse challenge and defy “modern enterpreuners””s evil interests of embezzelment and long-handed indirect neo-colonialism.
    And Ofcourse preeminently we can exihibit who we are and what we can do, to all those meles’s demagogy and potential tyrants.
    Thanks and çongrats once again on behalf of all ethiopian victims of maladministration and human rights abuse in exile in kenya, nairobi.

  32. I am so proud of you my people for showing the world what solidarity means. and thank you Elias for informing us what was going on!
    God Bless Ethiopia!
    Death to Woyane!

  34. It was embarrassing how TPLFites exposed themselves like that. What is happening to Woyanes? Are they getting too fat and lazy to even put in an effort?

    The few kebero beating tplf supporters may have as well been standing naked in public. Their photos will be posted with their identities, and, it will never be forgotten that they stood on the wrong side of history- literally.

    Good job to all Ethiopians.

  35. The problem with the woyane members will or is going to be alcoholism and over weight. Is weyin ready to deal with this. After the die hard old and fast leave the fighting ground where woyin is going to open up in the future. The generation after that will not serve weyane 100% So weyane one way or the other waiting to disintegrate.

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