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Protests Spread After Standoff at Ethiopian Activist's Home

Reuters

   ADDIS ABABA - Police fired gunshots and tear gas as thousands protested
   in Ethiopia on Wednesday over the treatment of a prominent activist,
   residents said, in a sign that the country's Nobel Prize-winning prime
   minister might be losing support among his powerbase.

   More than a thousand supporters gathered in Addis Ababa outside the
   house of Jawar Mohammed, a media entrepreneur who organized protests
   that brought Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to power last year, after police
   surrounded the building.

   Protests quickly spread to the other parts of the capital and to the
   cities of Adama, Ambo, Harar and Jimma, residents said. Several people
   were reported to have been killed in Addis Ababa and Harar.

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