The protestors attempted to attack and burn two churches within Jigjiga town in reaction to the burn of several Muslim mosques in the Amhara region of Ethiopian in the past weeks.

Abdi Adil Hassan Abdi, Head of the local Security Command in Jigjiga said the police used tear gas but also some of the officers were forced to fire live ammunition to stop rowdy crowds from entering the two churches.

"The demonstrations were largely peaceful but regrettably later the protest became heated as some of the protesters attacked churches in Jigjiga city,” he said.


Meanwhile the Muslim demonstrators called for immediate intervention from the Ethiopian Federal Government to protect the mosques being torched down in different locations in the Amhara region and to arrest the perpetrators of the violent crimes targeting Muslims places of worship.

"The pains of Muslims in Oromia and Amhara regions are our pains too. We will not sit and see mosques set on fire and nobody is reacting,” said Abdirahman Ali, a religious leader in Jigjiga who was among the organizers of the protest on Tuesday.

The protests in Jigjiga were sparked after four mosques and a church were burned down by angry mobs and a clash between the Christian and Muslim communities erupted in Mota city of the Amhara regional state over the weekend.

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said the burning of the places of worship was the work of "extremists” calling the act "unacceptable". In a tweet, he described the attacks as "attempts by extremists to breakdown our rich history of religious tolerance and coexistence".

- Horn Observer -