Photo published on EthioTube page titled “Pictures from Oromo Protest – Winter 2015″. No attribution or further context appears on the site.
All mobile internet services have been shut down in Ethiopia for the last seven days, amid increasingly violent protest scenes and a recently declared a “state of emergency”.
Demonstrations have taken place with regular frequency in Ethiopia's Oromia region since November 2015, with protesters demanding greater self-rule, freedom and respect for the ethnic identity of the Oromo people, who have experienced systematic marginalization and persecution over the last quarter century. Authorities have used deadly force against the protesters on more than one occasion. On October 2 alone, 52 people were killed. The Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), an opposition party, has reported a death toll of nearly 600 people.
While select social media and messaging platforms such as WhatsApp have been shutdown sporadically as protests have grown more intense. In Addis Ababa, the capital, this is the longest sustained mobile Internet service shutdown that has taken place since they began.
The sudden silence of the protests on social media has left those tracking the movement over Facebook and Twitter worried.
Mobile internet, social media cut for +7 days in the “African capital” #AddisAbaba. Gov spox says service will be back “when deemed safe”…
— Karim Lebhour (@KaLebhour) October 11, 2016
The mobile Internet blackout is also likely generating a decrease in online news about the protests. Activists fear that the protest movement, that relied on social media both for coordination and for circulating their message to international audiences, will be severed from their primary means of communication. Despite low Internet penetration in Ethiopia, social media are becoming intrinsic —especially for the protest movements in Oromia and Amhara regional states. Newsfeeds from Facebook pages and Twitter feeds from Ethiopia are not showing the same abundance as they were a week ago.
How #Ethiopia censors Facebook. With a state of emergency now in place, expect more #Internetshutdowns and #surveillance. #KeepItOn pic.twitter.com/pD2laTPzpF
— Moses Karanja (@Mose_Karanja) October 9, 2016
The government has been cutting off connectivity and blocking social media in Oromia and Amhara regions over the past 12 months. In June they blocked social media in the name of preventing exams leaks, but now it is not clear if government is switching off all mobile internet services as a precursor to the ongoing protest, or if the measure is intended as a reaction to protests. Those close to the situation fear this may be the beginning of a dangerous new phase after 12 months of protests.
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