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Protest march in Mekele (photos)

Posted on by EthiopianReview.com

MEKELE, ETHIOPIA — Hundreds of residents in the northern Ethiopian city of Mekele (Tigray Province) held a protest march yesterday, April 20, to voice their opposition to the order by the city administration to vacate their homes, according to Ethiopian Review Intelligence Unit sources.
protest in Mekele, northern Ethiopia
The residents built their homes on the land that the City allocated to them four years ago. Now the City wants the land back.

As the residents peacefully marched to the office of Abay Wolde, President of Tigray, they were intercepted by the Federal Police who ordered them to disperse. After a brief {www:standoff}, the police asked the protesters to send their representatives to meet with Abay Woldu. They dispersed after Abay told the representatives that he will let them know his decision on Friday.
protest in Mekele, northern Ethiopia

51 thoughts on “Protest march in Mekele (photos)”

  4. I can see Ethiopia’s true and only flag raised by the patriotic people of Meklle-Enderta. Mekelle is a city with in Enderta Awraja, a place in history known for rebellion against repression, opression and collonialism. The first woyane of 1943, an uprising against corruption and opression began in Mekelle-Enderta as historians say and the leaders of the first woyane were all from Enderta such as the leader, Fitawrari Yeebio Weldai (wedi Weldai), Dejazmatch bezabih Neguisse, Bashay Gugsa Mengesah and Blata Hailemariam reda are all from Enderta where Mekelle is located. The people in general are known for their firece independence and Ethiopianity and don’t take crap from any body. There have been similar protests in the past as well though unreported and unknown to the media. Mekelle-Enderta is the home of Atse Yohaness and Ras Araya dimtsu who both were killed at the battle of mettema defending the teritorial integerity of Ethiopia. In general Enderta and Tembien are the home of true Ethiopian warriors. True Ethiopians don’w bow to operassion and in this case the people of Mekelle-Enderta have had enough with nepotism, corruption and treason and this protest is a manfiestation of their frustration. Meklle the home of Ethiopian lions– Atse Yohaness and Ras Araya Dimtsu.

  5. Woyanne is despised in its home turf, this shows you Melles and his mafia are out to enrich themselves not to benefit the poor people of Tigray. Imagine if such a protest took place in Addis or other non-Tigrayan cities, the so called federal police would have shot the protesters point blank range. These poor residents of Mekelle are lucky for the simple fact that they are Tigrayans, if not they would be going to the morgue to identify their loved ones.

  6. This is yet another clear indication (proof) that there is a democratic governance in Ethiopia which is why people are able to march peacefully to convey their message to the respective authorities. The Ethiopian government must be applauded for creating such conducive environment of governance. Viva Meles and your brilliance, hard work, diligence and everything you do! I can’t wait to see the first ever Nile dam that no Ethiopian leader/emperor dared to construct being constructed by this brilliant guy without even firing or being fired at a single bullet. Elias first learn to appreciate the good deeds of this guy which will show your readers how humble you are; and then you can criticize him for all his shortcomings.

    Finally, a message to my fellow Eritreans is to ask them to look at their neighbor and open their eyes to see clearly by how a dictator, bastard and devil kind of individual Eritrea is being lead. By the way, are we Eritreans always making noise how beautiful our sacred city of Asmara with all its architecture is… which is TRUE…. but once again I ask those dogs who blindly support PFDJ and who think Asmara in THE ONLY beautiful city to look at the picture above and once again open their eyes.

  7. There is no single shot fired at the demonstrators. Right? Try this in Addis and then you will have another 200 people killed no matter how peacefully they conduct the demonstration. This affirms one thing I heard from one braggadocio from Tigray not too a long ago. What he told me was this: The reason why those former Derg official who were sentenced to death have not been sent to the gallows so far is that there is an officer born in Tigray among them. I don’t know which one he is talking about. He is a loose lip braggart who thinks he possesses a special DNA in his blood. He hold BSC in mechanical engineering but he was never able to hold any job in his profession steady and drives a taxi. He has lived here for more than 35 years and his problem is his English accent. It is much thicker than a turtle shell that a megaton nuclear bomb won’t be able to crack it. Go figure. But I take this comment seriously.

  8. Glad to see the real Ethiopian Flag carried by our Tigreyan brothers and sisters. This should tell us that Meles and his hodamotch are not the real Ethiopians. The day is approaching for change.

  9. They are lucky finding someone who to talk to we have seen the similar situation in Addis no one even bother when people were thrown out of their home and became homeless at least people from mekele has a chance to protest against.

  10. At least they can protst out side,but you can’t do it in addis or in diffret cities,this shows they have more freedom,we don’t know what is going on in tiray for the last 20 years,no independent news paper is going there, they can come to addis and invest but no body allow to go there,why

  11. I also see that the Federal police didnt use excessive force towards a mass protest and actually negotiated. This is out right outrageous. If this had been any other kilil other than Tigri we would have witnessed a massacre.

  12. Ertrawi:
    Get the facts right before posting such a distorted information. In such a volatile time where Meles is getting nerves by the day do to the continuing demand for freedom in the middle east, the people of Mekelle are showing unusual bravery by coming out to express their dissatisfaction on the current regime’s policies. The fact that they are hoisting the PLANE Ethiopian flag speaks volumes that they are ready to deal with what ever excessive force the federal might resort to. Don’t be blind as such to claim that the people of Mekelle are tolerated to demonstrate simply because they are Tigreans. Could the people of Asmara do the same any time in the foreseeable future? Why are they silent in the face of injustice? Thy can’t even say a word against the strongman in Asmara much less to demonstrate and if that happens, I am sure wedi afom would repeat the “eraeero” operation (you know what I mean) If you think Meles Zenawi pays special attention to Tigrai, you can go to Tigrai and look for yourself; you will be surprised. But please stop this type of nonsense cus you don’t know what you are talkin about. After the Ethiopian regime disbanded the refugee camps, you know how many Eritreans are leading a normal life in Mekelle? they are treated normally some of them even got lucky as to enrolling in to the universities. Could we say the same about Tigreans who live in Eritrea? I don’t think there are many left but we all know what happened. My country Ethiopia is the bigger picture than Tigrai or any other province. so please layoff my Brother!

  15. THIS IS THE PUNISHMENT THEY GET FOR NOT JOINING THE WOYANE MILITARY .
    WOYANE IS PRESSURING THE NON-MILITARY RESIDENTS OF TIGRAY IN MANY WAYS SO THEY JOIN THE MILITARY .

  16. I wish you could say something about the shifta regime in Asmara that the whole world is disgusted by mainly for its savegery,brutality and human rights abuse.I don’t know if a supporter of an evil group(Higdef)like you has a moral ground to criticize a much civilized group(Woyane)(Please note that I am not here to praise or advocate for the Woyanes)I don’t even know if there is anything to compare the two about.One is led by the jungle while the other is by a constitutional law.
    Dictator Issaias and his group have been ruling our nation with an iron fist ever since they came to power.The shiftas have been commiting all kinds of atrocities in the book against our decent and once proud people far worse than its predeccessors combined.The crimes and brutality of the regime is too long and too many to list but allow me to highlight some of its gruesome crimes.
    -Initiating wars with all the countries in the region resulted in the loss of lives and incalculable amount of properties,
    -90% of our youth have been forced to be pinned down in a fox hole for over 15 years where there is no imminent threat squandering their productive and formative years,
    -Imprisonment of citizens without the due process of the law.Parlamenterians,ministers,and sinior commanders have been locked up since 2001 and no one knows where they are.It has been reported that most of them died in jail and remember none of them made it to the step doors of the court.
    -Arbitrary killings,rape,corruption and worse citizens are made to disappear without a trace are the order of the day.
    -Eritrea is the only nation on earth to auction its gold resources at a throw away price which is 10%.Egypt and Sudan are asking for 50% and 60% concession of their resources.Then,no wonder all these mine companies are floacking to Asmara.
    These crimes are all happening in Eritrea today and one would question your state of mind for criticizing the woyanes when you have all these happening in your back yards.Cheating yourself out of respect and love for a dictator is the most terrible deception and also an eternal loss which there is no restitution.
    WARNING,
    Our nation is in a deep trouble sliding down the hill every passing day and unless we all come together and act NOW it won’t be too long before we see our nation wiped off the map in front of our eyes.Issaias and his cohorts are determined to destroy our nation that thousands perished their lives for.Its neither the Woyanes nor Ethiopia is our enemy but the ruthless dictators in Asmara.We will keep fighting untill the shiftas are thrown to the backwater of history.
    Ezi Wedhanka,
    Death to Issaias & cohorts,
    Democracy & Justice wiil prevail,

  18. To fithawi and degef sanja,

    You are simply spewing venom against the Eritrean people and their govenment because you don’t know the Eritrean people or their goverment, in case you want to spell it to you in Eritrea the people are the government and the government is the people, that may sound like a novel idea to you but not to Eritreans. For your information in Eritrea we don’t have a tribal junta with thieves at the head, we have a clean govenment that works for its people and the people defend it with their blood. If that irks you it is your problem not the Eritrean peoples. The unity of the Eritrean people also extends to the Eritrean diaspora who are united and support their people and government fully. You won’t find any diaspora who support their people and government like the Eritrean people.

  19. This is for the people if they march the federal will shot them
    so you well be killed for your belive don’t compare with others do what is right or some one has to do it 4u.{such as the Tigrea}.

  21. People this has nothing to do with Meles..stop Being a narrow minded and read the news carefully. This Protest has to do with the city administration of Mekele Vacating homes that already been vacated and relocated four years ago.

  22. To Fithawi & Degef Sanja

    Pls mention one African leader who meangles with his people so easily? Show me a president whose office is open to anyone who want to pay a visit? Show me a leader who roam all over his country (on 4 wheel drive)to see and check how the country is developing? It is one and only President Issaias. Beacuse he is loved and adored by his people.
    Can the midget meles chenawi walk few meters from his office or residence?
    Eritreans have full confidence on their govt. Reference to the gold mining, we know who gets what. Besides it is not only you who is stressed out about the gold mining, even your bosses are restless and sleepless.
    Eritrea is now marching on a right track. Anyone who tries to derail it militarily will face a grave consequence.

    Victory to the masses

  23. It seems a few Woyanne thugs want to deflect the attention of the decaying Tigrayan Regime by praising the Ethiopian genocidal tyrant, who has committed and commiting genocide in Ethiopia and trying to turn this protest of rage against their genocidal ethnic Tigrayan leaders as progress ethnic of how far this one-man decaying Zenawi regime has come. What a joke, is it not? President Isaias Afwerki walks around among his people with no security guards, no security detail or anything that’s found in every country. The reason why he can do this is because he is very popular, something the evil-eyed woyanne midgets foam out the mouth when seeing, especially since their genocidal monster dictator can’t even do that in his dusty home village of adwa.

    Elias i suggest you screen your comments properly to stop these woyanne rats from spinning a news that shows even their ethnic Tigrayans who are fed up with this genocidal one-man regime of Zenawi into, wow, look at Ethiopia, we may have genocide, we may have long bread lines, we may have invaded various countries for Bush, we may have a fake economy and we may have millions who need emergency food, but in Tigray, we have Tigrayans protesting this decaying regime….this is progress, see Eritrea!!! Give Us a break you infeiority complexed midgets! The fact that even Tigrayans are fed up with this one-man Zenawi regime shows this regime is dead.

    You know Woyannes suffer deep seated inferiority complexes when they pretend as being Eritreans to praise a regime their own Tigrayans are fed up with! What a joke these nut-jobs are! May 28, 2011, Beka! regime change is coming for these monsters and no amount of pretending to be Eritrean will change this fact!

  24. bravo the people of mekele, and hope it will spread all over ethiopia and soon it will be the end of weyane era , and together ethiopians will remove the weyane few cancer group from ethiopia

  25. Eritreawi…stop man and be real. Er doesn’t have a democratically elected governmet. Esayas is another dictoter who came to power by means of gun. A governmet who came to power by the gun barrel never been a good governmet. Just like meles, esayas is another blood tristy killer. Er and Ethiopia deserv better gov. peace and out

  27. The Tigre People Liberation Front , TPLF, have been in power for 20 years but have the Tigrians really got any benefit from the TPLF. The only beneficiaries are a few cadres of the TPLF and the elite leadership.

  29. What do Shabiya, and Woyane have in common? Inferiority complex, what should we do about it??? Noting much, if they do not snap out of it on their own what can be done.

    The source of inferiority comes from Italians and Arabs; they still act like the Bandas of the Italians and Arabs.

    There is no different between the two.

    By the way, what are Eritreans doing with Ethiopia? Want to have their cake and eat it too?

    How about Tigrians? What are they doing in the rest of Ethiopia? Want to have their cake and eat it too? Occupation?

    Be real Bandawoch, Shaiya and Woyane lovers are noting but dirt bags that live on blood of the people. You are not liberation fronts, because you do not know what liberation means. If you did you would not act the way you do. Therefore, you are mercenaries hired by Arabs and Italians. After you are done with your service you were allowed to occupy the land for your Banda service.

    There is noting more to it. See if you find out why you have a propensity to be Bandas? That will solve the problem

    p.s. Some Woyane Bandas and Shbiya Bandas justify for their Banda governments. What else can a Banda do but justifies their existence. Inferior people always do justify anything to cover their weakness, it is fact of life

  32. Why is demonstration like this is allowed only in Tigrai? That is why we are saying Beka! Beka! Beka! to one ethnic rule/power/domination.

    This forum is full of woyyane tags diverting the topic to an Eritrean issue comparing Meles the butcher with issaya of Eritrea.

    To # 6 please be proud of your identity say Tigrean instead of Eritrean and give your trash message to your fellow Tigreans.

    Please don’t divert the topic, we are talking about Ethiopian dictators, the atrocities and masacres and the pains and torchers inflicted on our people by these TPLF junta in our country.

    I know the woyyane cadres asignment in every forum is to divert topics from the current issue at hand.

  33. # 6,12,14, and 16 are all Tigrians pretending to be Eritreans and deflecting the attention of Ethiopians from the current slogan Beka! Beka! to woyyane Beka! to one ethinic rule, Beka! to the corrupted TPLF junta Beka! to killings Beka! arrests Beka! to deceptions Beka! Beka! Beka! Yiakil! Yiakil! Yiakil! is the current slogan in case you haven’t gotten it yet. You have the right to comment in this forum but you have to be proud of your identity don’t pretend to be an Eritrean.

  34. Eritreawi #5 Merebai #22,
    Your comments don’t deserve a response as the situation in Eritrea speak for themselves loud and clear but cheating yourselves out of love and respect for a blood sucker dictator,you should know it is the most terrible deception and also an eternal loss which there is no restitution.
    Our nation has never been short of Useful Idiots or Zombies like you which the blood sucker dictator heavily rely on for his existance.You better open up your eyes and see what our generous people are going through.Turning blind eye to what is going on in Eritrea will only make the grief and misery of our people worse which had have enough.
    Death to the dictator,
    Justice and Democracy will prevail,
    Ezi wedhanka,

  35. Why do people try to change the subject and talk about irrelevant issues such as Eritra? who cares about eritra unless u r a tigrea? so stop talking about eritra and let’s talk about the problems we have in Ethiopia.
    Good job mekelle’s people, let the revolution begin

  36. To merebay
    It’s a funny thing to say the people of Eritrea have confidence on their government. My friend don’t boost, you don’t have a choose, u have to deal and stack the rest of your life and the nation it self. At least antil he die. For the diaspora Eritreans as he already told them one example “To catch a hen, just give her an intestine, long one, to eat it so that when ever u need her, just pull the intestine slowly.” so like the hen if you say something ,u will be pulled or will never see your mam boody, or if you come // TCIHNA //. It’s not like Ethiopia, don’t caver your self.

  37. I see woyane hand on this demo, esp. with the flag!!!

    you may ask why?? most of the comment as ERITREANS are the woyanes!! why do they bring ERITREA/GOV, when the subject is a demo in mekelle.hmmmmmmmmm

    the reason i say i see woyane hand in this staged demo esp. the flag is

    1, woyane are desperet so they are anxoues they can’t wait for the day of the rombo so, they want to speed it up hoping the other city follow (about the flag they want to make look leget to the other city so they can easly identefay them)

    2, believe me NO tgray will demo with out the woyane flag!!!

    and NO tgray will demo aganst woyane there is you know two tplf ,so the tigray people either they are tplf 1 or tplf 2.

    so let’s forget this bogus demo , and say enough is enough for the 1 or 2 blood sucking EVIL WOYANE!!!!!!!!

  38. “Merebai”
    Mention a leader who goes about fistfight with his close friends like (wedi gereweina” under the influence of alcohol where the victim was left bleeding profusely. In a separate incident, one of the Kekkia brothers was also attacked by the strongman in which his head was pinned against the floor to the point that he lost a couple of tooth. You call this a leader? You know what happened the Last time wedi afom took a road rip, he was ambushed some gorilla fighters and he narrowly escaped with his life. That fateful day was a close call for him and ever since that incident, I very much doubt that he is taking those types of road trips any more. I know he sometimes put on sandals and pay a visit to the mourners’ tent just to impress fools like you but don’t forget half of the guests in that tent are his security personnel. It’s all a staged show intended as a publicity stunt. If he is real about the “show off” that he does, let him do it without a body guard just like the one the late Prime minister of Sweden, Olof Palme made; then we will see what happens. About the intermingling with people though, he is a megalomaniac and he likes to be worshiped by the poor people. Did you mention about the gold mining? At least gold mine workers in Ethiopia get paid for what they do – can we say the same about those in Eritrea? I have never heard any where in the free world where university students are forcefully interrupted from their school under the guise of “national service” only to be enslaved in the mining industry. Don’t fool around; the people of Eritrea today live under a stigmatizing state of affairs and if you call this mad man a leader, you may want to seek medical attention.

  39. “identity crisis”
    I believe you are a surface reader if not you wouldn’t have missed my patriotic writing about my country ETHIOPIA. What part of my writing #12 tells that I sound like an Eritrean? The current situation in Eritrea is not on of picnic therefore, how can one pretend to be Eritrean unless off course, you are still entertaining the “Singapore” syndrome. I am a proud Tigrean/ Ethiopian with deep knowledge about what’s going on in little Eritrea. Did I address your curiosity?

  40. What is wrong with these all shabias commenting here? They voted 98.8 percent to linberate from Ethiopia but they can’t spend a minute with out sneaking in Ethiopian issues. What a mess!
    I gues the whole deal of this independence was bogus and a way of robbing Ethiopia. Now when stealing routs are closed due to their gridininess, shabia is enemy with TPLF and working for Ethiopia! What a joke!!!

    Foks, the easy and only fix to this mess is to discard the bogus agreement of meles and isayas, independence, as soon a possible and bring back the whole Ethiopia, from Ogaden to massawa, in to one. Any thing short of this will never solve the real problems .

  42. The TPLF lost in USA, Europe, and Mekele this month. I Love Mekeleans one True Flag, Green-Yellow-Red with out that bad star. We Ethiopian should adopt making Green-Yellow-Red flag used any where in the world. The current star in the middle is Sooooooo ugly to our so beautiful Green-Yellow-Red flag.

    Go Mekele, we love you!!!!!!

  43. #16,
    Isayas and Meles are one and the same. Actually, the Chat addicted, the mentally unstable Meles is hundreds of times worse than Isayas: Cheat in every possible way…Lie about everything…Loot billions…Torture and Kill hundreds of thousands innocent Ethiopians, Eritreans and Somalis…Has given every inch of our port and Sell our hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile land to foreigners…

  44. This is not the beginning to May 20 march to oust Meles and his cohorts this is only to test the water. You all know if this had been in Addis, the federal soldiers would shot people in the face. But this is in Mekele where the golden boy hailes from, so there is no shooting in the face.

  45. Weyane is testing the reaction of Ethiopians about the protest in Mekele.
    This demonstration is fake, bogus , with weyane blessing.
    Where are the riot police? This looks organized by kebele

  47. I am delightfully surprised to see Ethiopian flag flying inside Ethiopia. That was the most beautiful sight of the year. Thanks bros/sis in Makele. Keep it up. Aluta Continua!!!!!

  48. This days nothing new,but I observed more Eritreans praising and supporting Zenawi more than Ethiopians.
    DID WE EVER WONDER WHY ???? I WILL LEAVE IT LIKE THAT

  49. WHILE ZENAWI CADRES PROUDELY SHOWING OFF THEIR ETHNIC FLAGS IN THE REST OF ETHIOPIA ,THE BRAVE AND HEROIC MEKELE RESIDENCE AND PROUD ETHIOPIANS ONCE AGAIN HOLDING HIGH THE ETHIOPIANS FLAG…I WILL NOT BE SURPRISED IF ZENAWI CADRES CHARGED THEM WITH TREASON :-) ???

  50. Most of these people claiming to be Eritreans are Tigrians, who are trying to defend their minority regime. I havent seen Eritreans defending their goverment but the weyanes are coming under-cover.BEKA!BEKA!BEKA!

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