CAIRO: Muslims in Ethiopia are reporting massive violence meted out against them by the country's security forces. Activists have reported police attacked a series of mosque sit-ins around Addis Ababa over the weekend, with a number of injuries being reported. Dozens of the activists have been arrested as the country prepares for the African Union summit to take place in the country's capital. The sit-ins were in response to the government's promotion of the al-Ahbash branch of Islam in the country, seen as moderate, over other creeds in the country. Sunday's sit-ins reported no violence, but earlier police raids left dozens injured and activists reported deaths, but could not be confirmed. “They have arrested dozens, even hundreds, of protesters in the past few days, while police fired teargas and fired rounds to disperse the crowd,” one activist, calling himself simply Hassan, told Reuters. Two other activists gave similar accounts. The activists have used Facebook and Twitter as the main means of communicating. They have distributed photos and stories of police brutality in what has become a tense situation in the predominantly Christian country of 80 million people. The crackdown on Muslims in the country come as the government fears extremism is on the rise, being imported into the country from neighboring Somalia in the Horn of Africa. Activists say this is not the case and they are protesting to demand their right to freedom of religion.
