Ethiopia unrest resurges after stampede

(Aljazeera)-Often violent protests in which rights groups say hundreds of people have been killed by security forces have flared up again in Ethiopia, with a US citizen among the latest deaths.
Protests reignited in the Oromia region – the main focus of a recent wave of demonstrations – after at least 55 people were killed in a stampede at the weekend, which was sparked by police firing tear gas and warning shots at a huge crowd of protesters attending a religious festival.
The official death toll given by the government is 55, though opposition activists and rights groups say they believe more than 100 people died as they fled security forces, falling into ditches that dotted the area. Ethiopian radio said excavators had to be used to remove some of the bodies.
The anti-government demonstrations started in November among the Oromo, Ethiopia’s biggest ethnic group, and later spread to the Amhara, the second most populous group. Though they initially began over land rights, they later broadened into calls for more political, economic and cultural rights.