At least 38 people killed in clashes

At least 38 people were killed and 252 wounded in clashes this week in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, hospital figures have revealed. At one main hospital alone, 23 dead were registered. Detailed figures from the hospitals in Addis Ababa were released to Agence France-Presse (AFP). Injuries included gunshot wounds. There has been no official confirmation of the death toll, but a statement broadcast by state radio and television on Thursday referred to demonstrators as “hoodlums and lumpen”. Eyewitnesses told IRIN that the chaos began around noon on Wednesday, and spread out of the city centre to affect the university area, the United States Embassy area, Merkato, Piazza, Debre Zeit Road and around a school near the British and Russian embassies, security sources told IRIN. Protests initiated by students and high school children also took place in the countryside, the BBC said. No hospital figures have been obtained from the regions. A doctor at one of the main city hospitals, Menelik Hospital, told journalists that 22 bodies had been collected from the Addis Ababa streets and brought to the hospital morgue since Tuesday, when the clashes began, Associated Press (AP) said. The international human rights organisation, Amnesty International, warned on Thursday that Ethiopian security forces were using “excessive force against students and other demonstrators”. Security forces were continuing to round up people, and hospitals could “hardly cope with the number of those injured”, said Amnesty International. It said security forces had reportedly fired at demonstrators. Violent riots on Tuesday followed a student demonstration which began at the Addis Ababa university campus last week.