Home » World » United Kingdom: statue of Emperor Haile Selassie destroyed after disturbances in Ethiopia

United Kingdom: statue of Emperor Haile Selassie destroyed after disturbances in Ethiopia

#Other countries : British police said on July 2 that they were investigating the destruction of a statue of the former Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie in a park in west London following murderous demonstrations in Ethiopia.

The Metropolitan Police said it had been warned Tuesday afternoon of the destruction of the statue, located in Cannizaro Park, Wimbledon, where the ex-emperor lived in exile in 1936 after the Italian invasion of Ethiopia.

The stone bust was damaged by a group of a hundred people, mainly men, according to a witness quoted by the British press agency Press Association. “I heard the statue being shattered but I didn’t really see what was going on,” said Andrew Morris, 53, who was walking his dog. “It was not a rabid crowd. They seemed calm enough.”

In Ethiopia, two days of demonstrations, following the death of a famous singer of the majority Oromo ethnic group, caused the death of 81 people and accentuated the political and community tensions which threaten the democratic transition driven by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed .

The singer Hachalu Hundessa, whose very political texts expressed the frustrations of the Oromos, who have long felt marginalized economically and politically, was shot dead Monday night in Addis Ababa.

Witness Andrew Morris said the group at Wimbledon had pamphlets with Oromo slogans. Police said they had made no arrests.

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