LIVE UPDATE: WOYANNE N. AMERICA DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN MEETINGS – 10 April 2011
UPDATE: 11:00 PM EST
Over the weekend, the 20-member Woyanne delegation that is sent by dictator Meles Zenawi for a disinformation campaign tried to hold public meetings in 13 North American cities: Washington DC,
New York, Columbus OH, Dallas, Ottawa, Boston, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Seattle, Toronto, San Jose, and Denver.
In Washington DC, the hometown of Ethiopians in N. America, the meeting was a public relations disaster as protesters forced it to disperse. The meeting organizers and Howard University, where the meeting was held, face lawsuits from at least one of the peaceful protesters who was attacked by the Woyanne thugs and had to be hospitalized.
In Los Angeles, Woyanne thugs savagely attacked two peaceful protesters who refused to leave the meeting hall. The meeting had to be stopped 2 hours early because of the growing agitation and risk of injuries.
In the other cities, the 20 Woyanne delegates were confronted by thousands of angry Ethiopians who demanded for an end to the Meles dictatorship.
Seattle TV’s station, King 5, reported:
A meeting at Seattle Center prompted a vocal protest outside the Exhibition Hall on Sunday… The demonstrators said thousands of people have died under Ethiopia’s prime minister. “These people are worse than Mubarak, Gadhafi… and they were supported by the United States government and they’re allowed to carry this kind of forum when they’d been killing kids, arresting people and committing genocide,” said Shakespear Feyissa, Ethiopians In Seattle For Justice.
VOA also reportedly extensively about the Woyanne tour and the opposition they faced by Ethiopians in N. America.
It’s estimated that Meles and his Woyanne junta will have spent well over $500,000 for the one-week propaganda stunt in the U.S. and Canada, while children in Ethiopia have no food to eat.
The Woyanne North America disinformation tour is ending in disaster. They have one more meeting in Las Vegas on Wednesday and will head to London. Las Vegas Ethiopians are known for their bitter opposition to Woyanne.
UPDATE: 8:50 PM EST
Police told the Woyanne thugs to end their meeting and leave the facility 2 hours early. The meeting was scheduled until 8 PM local time, but it ended at 6 PM.
UPDATE: 6:00 PM EST
Shambel Belaineh’s new song, Beka!, is being played by the protesters in Seattle.
UPDATE: 6:00 PM EST
Ethiopians in Toronto threw eggs at the Woyanne thugs and their hodam supporters as they concluded their meeting and started to exit the meeting hall. The Toronto Woyanne meeting is now over. It lasted only 2 hours.
UPDATE: 5:30 PM EST
Woyanne thugs in Los Angeles attacked some of the Ethiopians who entered the meeting hall. Two of them were seen covered with blood. Ambulance has been called. Police detained and released about 5 protesters.
The Los Angeles meeting has been delayed for over 2 hours. The hall is half empty.
UPDATE: 4:17 PM EST
San Jose: There are only 60 – 70 attendees, and over 90 percent of them are Woyannes, and most of them came from Sacramento and other cities, and are members of The Union of Tigreans in North America, an affiliate of the ruling Tigray People’s Liberation Front (Woyanne).
Woyanne thugs upset at Atlanta police. They are angry that the police is not forcing the protesters to move farther from the meeting hall.
UPDATE: 3:50 PM EST
As usual, Seattle Ethiopians are amazing. They are turning out in large numbers to confront the Woyanne thugs who are trying to hold a disinformation meeting.
UPDATE: 3:50 PM EST
Toronto police arrested one protester who he refused to leave the meeting hall.
In Seattle, hundreds are holding a protest at the Seattle Center. They are chanting “BEKA to Dictatorship!”
UPDATE: 3:10 PM EST
Ethiopians as young as 10-year-old join the Toronto anti-Woyanne protest rally.
In Atlanta, Solomon Tekalign, surrounded by security guards, helps his Woyanne bosses identify and kick out of the meeting hall his former friends who are opponents of the tribal junta.
UPDATE: 2:30 PM EST
TORONTO: Ethiopians from all ethnic groups stand together in confronting the Woyanne junta.
MINNEAPOLIS: Protesters chant “Leba!” “Leba!” (thief) as the Woyanne thugs and hodams are entering the meeting hall at Hilton Hotel.
DENVER: Similar protests is about to start at the Red Lion Hotel.
UPDATE: 2:00 PM EST
TORONTO: Hundreds of Ethiopians are currently holding a protest rally at a meeting hall near the University of Toronto carrying BEKA! posters. Oromo, Ogaden and Somali communities are out in force.
UPDATE: 1:45 PM EST
ATLANTA: Ethiopians in Atlanta are confronting Woyanne thugs and hodams at the Deklb County Technical College. The meeting organizers are allowing only Woyanne members to enter the meeting hall. [more update shortly]
An Egyptian mining company, ASCOM, finds a large gold deposit in Beninshangul, a region in western Ethiopia, according to Reporter.
Ethiopia’s ethnic apartheid junta gave a massive plot of land (8,000 sq km) to ASCOM in 2008 after forming a partnership with a Woyanne-affiliated company named Ezana Mining, whose partners include Meles Zenawi’s wife Azeb Mesfin.
ASCOM found the gold deposit near the site of the newly announced Nile River dam project.
Meles has offered Egypt co-ownership of the Nile Dam.
Meles doublespeak
While signing lucrative business deals with Egypt and selling away Ethiopia’s land, Meles turns around and complains about Egypt — and there are many fools who believe him. The partnership between Meles and Egypt in looting Ethiopia is stronger than ever.
LIVE UPDATE OF WOYANNE NORTH AMERICA DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN MEETINGS
UPDATE: 4:50 PM EST
Ethiopians in Washington DC celebrated their hard-won victory over the Woyanne thugs this afternoon. When Howard University officials and the DC Police announced that the meeting has been canceled, the protesters outside erupted in cheers.
UPDATE: 4:45 PM EST
The violence by Woyanne thugs was too much for the Howard University administration to tolerate. Around 4:30, the university told Woyanne donkey Girma Birru, who was hosting the meeting, to end it. This is a major victory for Ethiopians in the Washington DC area. Congratulations DC for a job well done!
Girma Biru told the Woyanne thugs that the meeting will resume at the Woyanne-occupied Ethiopian embassy in DC.
UPDATE: 4:05 PM EST
Dallas Police arrested a prominent Ethiopian businessman in Dallas, Ato Betru GebreEgziabiher, and 2 other Ethiopians who confronted Woyanne thugs at their meeting. All 3 have now been released. They were arrested because after the Woyanne thugs told the police to take them out of the meeting hall and they refused.
UPDATE: 3:50 PM EST
The Washington DC Police officers are ignoring the death threats that are being made by Woyanne thugs against the peaceful protesters. They were also nearby when Woyanne thugs savagely beaten up Tewodros Kabtyimer, who is now receiving treatment at the Howard University Hospital. The DC Police is a highly professional law enforcement agency, but today their action is shameful to say the least. Please call the DC Police to make complaints. It is against the law in the U.S. to make death threats. They need to enforce the law. DC Police: Tel (202) 715-7300
Because of all the chaos, the police is about to disperse meeting in DC.
UPDATE: 3:12 PM EST
WASHINGTON DC: Woyanne thugs beat up one Ethiopian protester who asked silent prayer for those who were killed by the Meles regime. He is taken to hospital by ambulance.
UPDATE: 2:50 PM EST
Washington DC Police arrested 3 Ethiopian protesters. The protesters are growing agitated. Woyannes are bringing their supporters by buses from as far as Canada.
UPDATE: 1:57 PM EST
Woyanne cadres in Dallas are bringing their supporters from other cities to fill the meeting hall at the Marriott Hotel. Several Ethiopians are confronting them with BEKA slogan. The Woyanne thugs prevented every one they suspected to be an opponent from entering the meeting hall. Over 200 Ethiopians have been turned away.
UPDATE: 1:20 PM EST
BOSTON: Nervous Woyannes asked Cambridge City authorities to bring in riot police. The police is now outnumbering the 30 Woyannes and hodams who have arrived for the meeting. One of the Woyanne thugs, a woman, tried attacked a photographer. The police took her away.
UPDATE: 1:15 PM EST
WASHINGTON DC: There are over 1,000 protesters outside the meeting hall. Inside, there are less then 80. The protesters are carrying placards with Beka (Enough) slogan. More Ethiopians from as far as Baltimore are arriving at Howard University where the Woyanne delegation is holding a meeting.
UPDATE: 12:50 PM EST
The Woyanne meeting in Boston was scheduled for 12 Noon. Now it’s almost 1 PM and there are more security guards and police officers than attendees at the venue. Ethiopians are carrying Beka! slogan outside the meeting hall.
In Washington, hundreds of pro-democracy Ethiopian have started to gather at Howard University to confront the Woyanne delegates. [more details shortly]
The Federal Police, dictator Meles Zenawi’s death squad, have killed two students and savagely beaten many others at Tepi University in Mizan Teferi, western Ethiopia (560 km from Addis Ababa) on Thursday night, according to Ethiopian Review sources.
Meles sent the Federal Police when Tepi University students protested the {www:mistreatment} of members of the Oromo ethnic group in the hands of ruling party cadres.
The heavily armed Federal Police troopers entered the campus and started shooting at the student. They also detained and took away several students, according to an {www:eyewitness} who spoke with Ethiopian Review sources.
The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor released its annual Country Report on Friday, April 8. Its report on Ethiopia include the following:
Although there are more than 90 ostensibly opposition parties, which carried 21 percent of the vote nationwide in May, the EPRDF and its affiliates, in a first-past-the-post electoral system, won more than 99 percent of all seats at all levels. Although the relatively few international officials that were allowed to observe the elections concluded that technical aspects of the vote were handled competently, some also noted that an environment conducive to free and fair elections was not in place prior to election day. Several laws, regulations, and procedures implemented since the 2005 national elections created a clear advantage for the EPRDF throughout the electoral process. Political parties were predominantly ethnically based, and opposition parties remained splintered. During the year fighting between government forces, including local militias, and the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), an ethnically based, violent insurgent movement operating in the Somali region, resulted in continued allegations of human rights abuses by all parties to the conflict. Security forces generally reported to civilian authorities; however, there were instances in which security forces, specifically special police and local militias, acted independently of civilian control.
Read the full report here.
