WASHINGTON — A large number of demonstrators gathered on Sunday in D.C. and Virginia in an act of civil disobedience over ongoing fighting in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, where officials have warned of possible genocide.
A national group that identifies as members of the Tigrayan diaspora community claimed hundreds of members and allies joined together Sunday to protest on the 14th Street Bridge, I-395 South, spanning D.C. and Virginia.
Although the demonstrators acknowledged they posed "a lot of inconveniences" to drivers, they hope people can sympathize with their cause.
"Nobody wants to block freeways but we have exhausted many other options and time is not on our side," the group told WUSA9 over email. "7 million people in Tigray are on the brink of extinction. If this was your family, is there anything you wouldn’t do to save their lives?"
A protest in Seattle also took place this week over the war.
The Associated Press reported just days ago that the war in Africa’s second-most populous country saw its warring sides agree to a permanent cessation of hostilities Wednesday.
The war has been ongoing for two years as of Friday and has seen abuses documented on both sides, with millions of people displaced and many near famine.
“The level of destruction is immense,” said the lead negotiator for Ethiopia’s government, Redwan Hussein, according to the Associated Press. Lead Tigray negotiator Getachew Reda expressed a similar sentiment and noted that “painful concessions” had been made. Exhausted Ethiopians, urged by the parties to “stop voices of division and hate,” watched them shake hands.
In late October, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum issued a warning for a heightened risk of genocide and mass atrocities in the Tigray region.
"The situation has deteriorated exponentially as Ethiopian security forces, supported by Eritrean forces and Amhara special forces, have seized key towns and cities imperiling vulnerable Tigrayan civilians," they stated.
The museum went on the highlight that they initially warned of the situation one year ago and that their Early Warning Project has consistently ranked Ethiopia as one of the top-ten highest-risk countries in the world for new onset of mass killing.
