At least two people were killed and several others wounded in gunfire in Shashemene city of Ethiopia’s Oromia Regional State.
The killing took place on Saturday as the Oromia security forces shot at the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church faithful who denied a group of bishops’ entry to Saint Michael Church in the city.
Eyewitnesses told Mereja.com that the faithful flocked to Saint Michael and other five churches in the city to defend entry of the bishops who were separated from the church’s activities by the Holy Synod for establishing a new Synod and ordaining 26 archbishops ‘illegally’.
According to the eyewitnesses, troops of the national army are deployed in the city where transportation and other services are suspended due to the protest.
The protest against members of the newly established ‘Synod’ is spreading in Arsi Negele town where security forces are trying to disperse the faithful in gunshots. The faithful are still gathered in Saint George and other churches of the town.
Travelling from Addis Ababa, Abune Yosef, Bishop of the Shashemene and Arsi Negelle dioses has already joined the protest in Shashemene.
The Oromia Security Force also is accused of escorting members of the illegally established Synod and detaining an undisclosed number of young people in Jimma, another city in the Oromia region.
Similar protest is taking place in Chiro town where residents are calling for the exclusion of members of the ‘illegally’ established synod from the town.
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