ADDIS ABABA: At least four people are reportedly dead and reports of others injured after a demonstration of Muslims in Ethiopia's eastern state turned violent on Monday, with demonstrators attacking a police station. The armed demonstrators attacked a police station in the eastern part of the country after protests over government interference in local Muslim council elections. Police officials told Bikyamasr.com that the violence was brought to an end “through the efforts of the police who will not allow vigilante violence in Ethiopia.” Thousands of Ethiopian Muslims have been protesting the government's believed interference in the faith's local council elections, which has angered Muslims across the country. They argue the government is attempting to promote one sect of Islam over the other and this has led to tensions, including police violence last summer directed at Muslim protesters at mosques in the country. The protesters argue the government controls Ethiopia's highest Muslim body, the Supreme Council on Islamic Affairs, and has prevented long-overdue elections that could bring alternative views onto the Council. Muslims here have accused the government of former Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of attempting to push a specific view of Islam against the council and the majority of Muslims in the East African country. Many of those arrested have been accused of inciting violence and remain in jail after being detained by police at local mosques in the country. The Muslim community has also pushed for unity between Christians and animists in the country in recent months, urging all Ethiopians to come together for change in the country. The same group of Ethiopian Muslim student activists and their Christian friends have lashed out repeatedly at international media coverage of alleged friction between the two religious groups in the East African country. They told Bikyamasr.com earlier this month that “the only turmoil between Christians and Muslims is what the media is making out of the events here." They said that recent crackdowns on Muslims in the country are the result of “ongoing government oppression and should not be seen as a sign of sectarian divides in the country." One of the Christians, Maria, argued that “the media want to show our Muslim sisters and brothers as antagonistic toward Christians, but the reality is that we are all battling the government and its violence against all Ethiopians." Tensions reached their peak on July 13, when the government raided a gathering at the Awalia Mosque in Addis Ababa, where government officials said Muslim leaders were planning further protests. Ethiopian authorities said more than 70 people were arrested in the operation, including the members of the mosque's central organizing committee.
