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Dozens killed in stampede during Eithiopian religious event

The stampede was triggered when police fired teargas and warning shots to disperse anti-government protesters at the festival.

By :  ch.v,m. krishna rao
Update: 2016-10-03 05:33 GMT
Police in Ethiopia's Oromiya region fired teargas and warning shots to disperse anti-government protesters at a religious festival, triggering a stampede that the opposition party said killed at least 52 people.
People extract an injured man from a ditch after a deadly stampede in Bishoftu.
Half a dozen people, also motionless, were also seen being taken by pick-up truck to a hospital, one witness said.
The witnesses said they saw people dragging out a dozen or more victims, showing no obvious sign of life.
When police fired teargas and guns into the air, crowds fled and created a stampede, some of them plunging into a deep ditch, witnesses said.
Some protesters waved the red, green and yellow flag of the Oromo Liberation Front, a rebel group branded a terrorist' organization by the government, witnesses said.
Crowds chanted we need freedom' and we need justice', preventing community elders, deemed close to the government, from delivering their speeches at the festival.
Thousands of people had gathered for the annual Irreecha festival of thanksgiving in the town of Bishoftu, about 40 km (25 miles) south of the capital Addis Ababa.
Sporadic protests have erupted in Oromiya in the last two years, initially sparked by a land row but increasingly turning more broadly against the government.
The government did not give a precise death toll resulting from chaotic scenes during the annual festival where some people chanted slogans against the government and waved a rebel group's flag.
The stampede was triggered when police fired teargas and warning shots to disperse anti-government protesters at the festival.

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