http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/sport/athletics-ethiopia-s-li/3062596.html
Athletics - Ethiopia's Lilesa makes protest gesture at marathon finish
Posted 22 Aug 2016 01:35
RIO DE JANEIRO: Ethiopia's Feyisa Lilesa held his arms over his head,
wrists crossed, as he finished second at the Olympic marathon on
Sunday in a gesture of support for members of his Oromo tribe who have
been protesting at government plans to reallocate farmland.
Plans to allocate land surrounding the capital for development
prompted fierce demonstrations in November and spread for months, in
the country's worst unrest in more than a decade.
Ethiopia has long been one of the world's poorest nations but has
industrialised rapidly in the past decade. However, reallocating land
is a thorny issue for Ethiopians, many of whom are subsistence
farmers.
Authorities scrapped the scheme in January, but protests flared again
this month over the continued detention of opposition demonstrators.
Rights groups say hundreds have been killed. The government disputes
the figures and says illegal protests by "anti-peace forces" have been
brought under control.
"Oromo is my tribe ... Oromo people now protest what is right, for
peace, for a place," Lilesa explained after his silver-medal
performance, adding that he feared he would face consequences for the
gesture when he returned home.
"Maybe I move to another country ... you get the freedom if you
support only the government. You cannot work without that."
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Any sign of unrest is closely watched in Ethiopia, a Western ally
against Islamist militants in neighbouring Somalia and an economic
power seen as a centre of relative stability in a fragile region.
"Oromo people now protest what is right, for peace, for a place," Lilesa said.
(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Alison Williams)
- Reuters
Received on Sun Aug 21 2016 - 12:38:29 EDT