Ethiopian activists protest Zenawi rule in demonstration near Camp David G-8 summit
Washington Post
THURMONT, Md. — Dozens of police officers in riot gear contained more than 200 Ethiopian activists who jammed a small Maryland town’s square Saturday to protest their prime minister’s involvement in a global economic summit at nearby Camp David.
Authorities reported no arrests during the three-hour demonstration that shut down the intersection of two state highways through the center of town. The commotion drew scores of spectators, many using cameras to document their town’s latest role in world affairs.
The flag-waving Ethiopian immigrants, mainly residents of the Baltimore-Washington area, were protesting the rule of Meles Zenawi, who was invited along with the heads of Benin, Ghana and Tanzania to discuss food security with leaders of the Group of Eight leading industrial nations. On Friday, President Barack Obama announced $3 billion in private-sector pledges to help boost agriculture and food production in Africa.
The United States is a major contributor of aid to Ethiopia, whose longtime leader has been accused of restricting freedoms and news media. Some in Ethiopia see him as a dictator.
“Shame on you!” chanted the protesters, many waving their country’s red, green and yellow flag.
Some held a banner reading, “Zenawi: brutal dictator, pathological liar, mass murderer.”
Police restricted demonstrators to Thurmont, a town of 6,200 several miles from the presidential retreat.
Demonstrator Woni Hailesilassi, a 33-year-old cab driver from Falls Church, Va., said he and four companions tried to drive their car to Camp David but were turned away after 25 minutes of police questioning.
“We need for the people to understand who is the president,” he said, referring to Zenawi. “We know him very well. We want to show that to the world.”
Local resident Cheryl Magers watched the demonstration from the front steps of Thurmont Barber & Styling, across the street from barricades.
“This is quite a commotion,” she said. “And it’s going to be a part of history. That’s why we’re here.”
A few doors down, Christina Spain sold $15 t-shirts reading, “I survived G-8 Summit 2012,” from a sidewalk table. She said she and her boyfriend had 84 of the shirts printed overnight to sell as souvenirs.
“This is not going to happen again,” she said.
Police said there were no arrests or other problems with the protesters.
“Everybody got to come and demonstrate peacefully. There were no issues and that’s what we were hoping for,” said Frederick County Sheriff’s Office Cpl. Jason West, a spokesman for a combined local and state police force.
A handful of demonstrators from Occupy movements in Baltimore, Washington and New Haven, Conn., joined in. Occupy Baltimore member Richard Ochs said many others from the group went to Chicago to join demonstrations against a meeting there of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, starting Sunday.
26 thoughts on “Camp David protestetors expose Zenawi”
The frog should hang himself up arriving Adowa, his birth place. He is filthy, liar, killer, and looter.The next time he comes here, we will pared him in the streets if he did not end up in Haige. He deflies not only Ethiopians but the whole humanity.
http://www.voanews.com/content/occupiers-ethiopian-activists-protest-g8-summit/727384.html
Jegnaw replies:
May 21st, 2012 at 9:58 PM
Thanks that was good i checked it..
Elias
keep up the good work.you are keeping the dictator awake day and night.i am absolutely confident we will get red of this Blood sucker woyanne out of power cos all dictators never live power willingly so like any other dictator before meless, they will have to be thrown out of power by force.soon or latter meless and co will be a foot not in the long,long glorious history of Ethiopia.in that i am absolutely confident..
God bless Ethiopia.
Abebe Gelaw is the Zerai Deres of our time.
Expose the brutality of the ethno-fascist dictator Zenawi wherever he goes.
STOP INCITEMENT OF INTER ETHNIC VIOLENCE
STOP DISCRIMINATION OF PEOPLE ON THE BASIS OF THEIR ETHNICITY AND POLITICAL ALLEGIANCE
STOP REPRESSION, FREE SPEECH, FREE MEDIA, FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY
NO TO LAND GRAB
LAND TO THE TILLER
NO TO EVICTION OF ETHIOPIAN PEASANTS FROM THEIR FARMS AND VILLAGES.
NO TO IMPRISONMENT OF POLITICAL OPPOSITION
FREE ESKINDE NEGA, ANDUALEM ARAGHIE, BEKELE GERBA AND ALL POLIICAL PRISONERS
STOP REPRESSION OF FREE PRESS
STOP USING FOOD AID AS A POLITICAL WEAPON
FREEDOM, DEMOCRACY AND JUSTICE FOR ETHIOPIA
First i would like to correct the post about the color of our flag.
Our flag color is GREEN YELLOW AND RED WITH OUT THE DAVID STAR. NOT RED, GREEN YELLOW.
FOR ALL OF YOU WHO PARTICIPATED IN EXPOSING MELES, I SAY GREAT JOB. YOU AND OUR HERO ABEBE GELAW GAVE US A PRICELESS PICTURE OF HUMILIATED MELES. THERE IS NOTHING EXCITING THAN SEEN MELES HEAD DOWN LIKE WITH HUMILIATION AND FEAR.
You guys were in power 21 years ago equiped with modern gun mechines but you were deeted by democratic forces. Now, you flew to USA and have only your big mouth that does not help you come back to power. I feel sorry for you.
Abera M. replies:
May 20th, 2012 at 9:38 PM
“Abebe” or whatever your stupid name is, you are a disgrace to the Ethiopian history and you will be ashamed of yourself soon, Woyane uses the opportune time to take power, you don’t know the meaning of the word democracy, you are just opportunistic looters.
Anonymous replies:
May 21st, 2012 at 12:30 AM
abera,
Let me ask you moron,
How does it feel t o see your boss so scared and humiliated? For us it wasnexilerating and joyful to see him terrified ans ashamed.
ABEBE GELAW will go in history as heroic journalist who put meles in his place which is rock bottom. All you Hiodams play the video over and over and learn that your boss is nothing but a whimp!
Anonymous replies:
May 21st, 2012 at 1:32 AM
Ante bilo Abebe, Koshasha, Balagaie, worada heartless woyane!
As usual you idiots rant without points. You haven’t seen or heard Ethiopians praising Mengestu for slaughtering Ethiopians. The pathological liar dictator Meles promised Ethiopians to fight with him to get rid off Mengestu and now Ethiopians have witnessed and found out that Meles is in fact the worst human being that was ever born in the land of Ethiopia. No one is denying that Mengestu was a mad dictator, but on top of his madness and killing spree that we hate him for; at least he didn’t try to divide Ethiopians by ethnic groups. Mengestu fought for every inch of Ethiopia’s land, including to keep Eritrea and wouldn’t have given every square meter of the sea shore and a billion dollar Ethiopians’ money to the most racist man Isayas and left Ethiopia landlocked. Mengestu didn’t loot the country blind, he didn’t evict Ethiopians and sold their land to foreigners. Mengestu didn’t burn the historic Monasteries of EOTC, he didn’t sell hundreds of thousands young women to be slaves to Arabs and he didn’t sell small Ethiopian children to make money, etc. Dictator Mengestu was a lesser evil than Dictator Meles in so many ways, period!
American intelligence officials said he became chief of security for Libyan Arab Airlines as a cover for his secret work as a military procurer, enabling him to travel widely, often using aliases and false passports. As tensions between the United States and Libya mounted in the 1980s, prosecutors said, Mr. Megrahi was enlisted for an act of terrorism. It was to be the worst in British history, and a devastating strike against America. On Dec. 21, 1988, Pan Am Flight 103, a Boeing 747 jumbo jet carrying 243 passengers and 16 crew members, took off from Heathrow Airport in Britain, bound for New York. Little more than a half-hour later, cruising at 31,000 feet over southern Scotland, the plane exploded. All 259 people aboard and 11 on the ground were killed. The terrorists apparently intended the aircraft to fall into the sea. But because it took off late, victims and debris fell on Lockerbie. Recovered evidence showed that the plane had been blown up by Semtex plastic and a Swiss timing device of a kind sold to the Libyan military. The bomb had been hidden in a Toshiba cassette player and placed in a brown Samsonite suitcase, with clothing that was traced to a merchant in Malta. Investigators, while they had no direct proof, believed that the suitcase with the bomb had been fitted with routing tags for baggage handlers, put on a plane at Malta and flown to Frankfurt, where it was loaded onto a Boeing 727 feeder flight that connected to Flight 103 at London, then transferred to the doomed jetliner. After a three-year investigation, Mr. Megrahi and Al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah, the Libyan airline station manager in Malta, were indicted on mass murder charges in 1991. Libya refused to extradite them, and the United Nations imposed eight years of sanctions that cost Libya $30 billion. Mr. Megrahi lived under armed guard and worked as a teacher. Negotiations led by former President Nelson Mandela of South Africa produced a compromise in 1999 — the suspects’ surrender, and a trial by Scottish judges in the Netherlands. The trial lasted 85 days. None of the witnesses connected the suspects directly to the bomb. But one, Tony Gauci, the Maltese shopkeeper who sold the clothing that forensic experts had linked to the bomb, identified Mr. Megrahi as the buyer, although he seemed doubtful and had picked others in photo displays. After a three-year investigation, Mr. Megrahi and Al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah, the Libyan airline station manager in Malta, were indicted on mass murder charges in 1991. Libya refused to extradite them, and the United Nations imposed eight years of sanctions that cost Libya $30 billion. Mr. Megrahi lived under armed guard and worked as a teacher. Negotiations led by former President Nelson Mandela of South Africa produced a compromise in 1999 — the suspects’ surrender, and a trial by Scottish judges in the Netherlands.
There can be no triumph without loss. No victory without suffering. No freedom without sacrifice. – Lord of the Ring.
keep crying losers,your time is over before 21 years.what you will do? just stay in barking.
Anonymous replies:
May 21st, 2012 at 9:36 AM
Hey moron Wossen, you’re a mindless puppet and a brainless village idiot that follows and do whatever the evil man tells you to do. Your kinds are worse than Nazis who supported Adolf Hitler, at least the Nazis thought Adolf Hitler was patriotic that loved his country and they over looked his killing spree and shame on them too. On the other hand, the African Hitler Meles hates Ethiopia/ns including a**holes like you! The brutal tyrant is responsible for the deaths of unknown number of our own Tigrean brothers and sisters. The mad dictator doesn’t have a heart that cares for others and doesn’t have a guilty conscience to know better. Here is news for you: The coldblooded killer and egomaniac Meles only loves himself, he doesn’t even love his children let alone puppets like you. If the dictator knew what it means to love a child, he wouldn’t have killed Ethiopian mothers’ and fathers’ son and daughters.
Ahadu replies:
May 21st, 2012 at 3:55 PM
Wossen (Kichamam woyanne)
YOU ARE BECOMING LIKE A MAD DOG CAUSE OF YOUR THIEF BOSS GET ONLY A FRACTION FROM WHAT HE DESERVES, NORMALLY A SLAP AND I WOULD HAVE BEEN PITTING IN HIS UGLY FACE, JUST ONLY HE IS A BEGGAR GUEST BY OBAMA AND CO.WHAT THIS MERCINERY REALLY DESERVES IS BEING HANDICUFFED IN FRONT OF ETHIOPIANS AND EVERY ONE WILL GIVE A CHANCE TO ACT FROM CUTTING HIS EARS AND LIER TANGUES TO HIS FINGERS THAT HE THIS DAYS USES AFTER COFEE THEFT AND THREATING THE WEAK PEACEFUL OPPOSITION WHICH IN MY VIEW IS A CHILDS PLAY MIGHT PROBABLY HELP US TO GET SOME OF HIS HIDDEN CRIMES AS THEY ARE NEAR THE FOLK.BY THE WAY YOU ARE THE SAME WOYANNE USING THE NAME ABEBE AND WOSSEN AND YOU ONLY PROVE THAT YOU ARE GOOD FOR NOTHING AND EMOTIONAL LIKE A MAD DOG NOT OTHER WITH MELLESE ZENAWI.
The world have just start recognizing that Ethiopia has true Ambassoders representing the national intrest and security of it’s nation.
“Ethiopians in the Diaspora are the true Ambassadores of Ethiopia”. This Ambassadores will peaseffuly continue to adress Ethiopians suffering inside Ethiopia to the rest of the world, in every occassion in the future.
May God bless ETHIOPIA and it’s people!
Let Ethiopia march forward under the leadership of our intelligent and visionary PM while the dogs bark and the donkeys bray thinking they would hinder its prosperity.
I feel sorry for you guys – You have been pushed away from your palace and ended up in your current and permanent position of barking and braying for your entire life
Anonymous replies:
May 21st, 2012 at 2:38 PM
That is why we call you fandyas. Because if those who have been dominating you are donkeys that means you are fandyas (You have been eating for centuries the insect called Locust (Anbeta) and your brain is still empty and think with your stomach. Go ahead with your Woyane we will see where you will end up with your mass killing.
Asafi Wondu
Ahadu replies:
May 21st, 2012 at 3:58 PM
Again the mad dog first Abebe then wossen and now annonymous typical woyanne kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
Great. But Ethiopian activists should always have meeting and really discuss what they are protesting about. Activism is marketing in what you believe in to convince others. So really how do you affect those who have no idea about Ethiopia and Meles role in it. This protest should be to make people curious about why they are protesting and what is really going on in Ethiopia under Meles/TPLF. You have to be able to affect others by your activism and protest. Yes it is easy to say “dictator”, that word eventually will wear out. Westerners are more interested in what you have to say. Never have spokes person because this person will be targeted so, every protestors should be able elequently describe what is going on. What are the things that we can sell on:
Media repression, slavery in Arab countries of our women due to lack of leadrship in Ethiopia, child selling our children (especialy this and slavery will affect and attract people from supporting us), selling of our country, selling of our land to Sudan (such things is very serious because no regime in any nation will be anti its nation even though it does repression and this is very unique in Ethiopia’s case), basically campaigning the regime to be anti Ethiopian due to the above and plus inciting ethnic division and ethnic favoritism. Ethiopians have very good issue to win on based on this. Ethiopia’s situation is very uniqe so not only to make this awarenss but also to bring frineds of ethiopians abroad. If you notice, Western media doesn’t talk a lot about Africa issue unless, it talks about poverty, famine, all negativity they believe “African inflict on by themselves”, of course they will never disucss their role in it. The new of Africa is buried. Especially since TPLF regime is ally also, Western media will make sure every atrocieites is not reported and in case it happened because of some good Western journalists, they quickly come out and report the regime to stop the atrocities but their support is under cover. What is our role? To keep on exposing TPLF regime’s crimes to the world and campaign over and over again until there is a change.
I’m proud of you all, how I wish I was there! All the Ethiopians who took time to protest against evil to give voice for the voiceless Ethiopians should be very proud.
There is no doubt that Meles and his thugs use the same tactics again blaming Amharas and tell the rest of the world that all the protesters were only Amhara elites trying to take the power back. Meles and his cronies have lied repeatedly and they will do it again and again. Ethiopian media and Ethiopian scholars have to work hard to spread the real news that indeed, the protesters were in fact a mix of every ethnic group from Ethiopia.
Anonymous replies:
May 21st, 2012 at 4:38 PM
Yes,Indeed my brother..
All of you need to tone it down. All Meles has to do to gain your support is to start a war with Eritrea and you idiots will forgive meles, I know this because I have seen you so called Amharas in the 1998 war. So sit and shut up Amharas ” gura waga yeleum “.
Anonymous replies:
May 22nd, 2012 at 9:17 AM
kiros alem,
Give up! trouble maker! Your propaganda of hate to wards Amharas won’t work anymore! Yes, EPLF and TPLF worked hard for decades to bring hate and division by blaming Amharas and able to convince and fooled a few Ethiopians that blamed and despised Amharas without any proof of crimes. Regardless, who did what at that time. anyone who spoke Amharic were seen as Amharas by the southerners and people from East. But now as we speak, you soulless TPLF creatures have been committing more despicable crimes on innocent Ethiopians in every province even more than the other disgraced dictator Mengestu. You used Amharas to divide and rule, and you hateful, ruthless people have looted the country, evicted Ethiopians and sold their land and have been on killing spree of innocent Ethiopians for the last 21 years in every province. The rotten woyane prisons are packed with innocent Ethiopians. Your pathological liar, satanic and remorseless tyrant dictator is worse than merciless killers like Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini and the other Ethiopian evil Mengstu. The brutal dictator Meles and people like you are disgraced and and bring shame to your ethnic group.
Anonymous replies:
May 22nd, 2012 at 9:28 AM
kiros alem,
Give up! you soulless trouble maker! Once again, you’re making a fool of yourself!
Your propaganda of hate to wards Amharas won’t work anymore! Yes, EPLF and TPLF worked hard for decades to bring hate and division by blaming Amharas and able to convince and fooled a few Ethiopians that blamed and despised Amharas without any proof of crimes. Regardless, who did what at that time, anyone who spoke Amharic were seen as Amharas by the southerners and people from East and the hateful blood cousins Esays and Meles were able to help organize separatist groups like OLF and ONLF. But now as we speak, you soulless TPLF creatures have proven to be the real enemy of Ethiopia and Ethiopians and have been committing more despicable crimes on innocent Ethiopians in every province more than the other disgraced dictator Mengestu who came from a family of Oromos, Welaytas and Amharas. You used Amharas to divide and rule, and you hateful, ruthless people have looted the country, evicted Ethiopians and sold their land and have been on killing spree of innocent Ethiopians for the last 21 years in every province. The rotten woyane prisons are packed with innocent Ethiopians. Your pathological liar, satanic and remorseless tyrant dictator is worse than merciless killers like Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini who loved their country very much. The brutal dictator Meles and people like you are disgraced and brought shame to Ethiopians and especially, to your ethnic group.
May God bring the end of Godless tyrant Meles and his hateful TPLF thugs like you for the sake of Ethiopia and Ethiopians.