ADDIS ABABA, Oct.27 (Xinhua) -- Renewed protests in Ethiopia's central Oromia regional state has left eight people dead, a regional official said on Friday.
Speaking to journalists, Addisu Arega, head of Oromia regional state communications affairs bureau, said the deaths occurred on Thursday in Ambo city, 130 km north of Addis Ababa.
He said the cause of the Thursday violence was attributed to an erroneous information disseminated claiming sugar from nearby Fincha sugar factory was being transported illegally to other places.
Police and soldiers used live rounds on Thursday against angry demonstrators who had blocked roads in Ambo city and burned three trucks to prevent the transport of the sugar through the city.
Ethiopia is in the midst of a severe sugar shortage which the Ethiopian government blames on bad weather condition that halved the country's sugar production last year.
Oromia, Ethiopia's largest regional state, has seen large anti-government protests by ethnic Oromos since the end of 2015, leaving hundreds of people dead.
Oromos, Ethiopia's largest ethnic group making up a third of the country's 100 million population, complains of decades of economic, political and social marginalization by successive governments.
Martial law declared in October 2016 and later lifted in August 2017 had calmed Oromia regional state, but renewed anti-government protests earlier this month left several people dead and property damages. Read more here
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