Tigrayan community in Edmonton protests genocide in Ethiopia

Tigray community rallies against genocide Protesters gathered for a drive-by caravan protest in Edmonton to draw attention to atrocities in Ethiopia.

EDMONTON — On Saturday, Edmontonians from Tigray and the neighbouring nation of Eritrea hoped to raise awareness of a genocide happening in the region.

Tigray is the northernmost region of Ethiopia. More than 7 million peple live where the Tigray War has been raging since Nov.

Giyona Tiku, an event organizer for the Tigrayan Canadian Community of Edmonton protest, said in an interview that the protest was held to protest the atrocities being committed in the Tigray region.

“Currently the government of Ethiopia and the government of Eritrea are waging war on the civilians living in Tigray,” Tiku said. “The governments are forcibly starving the entire population of Tigray.”

“Since November 4 there hasn’t been electricity, water, or food. The banks have been closed. All access to services have been restricted in Tigray to deliberately starve the population.”

She added that receiving information from Tigray has been difficult since telecommunication infrastructure has been disabled by the Ethiopian government to curb outgoing communication about what is happening.

“Information is starting to trickle out now but it has been really difficult,” Tiku said.

Tiku said she hopes the demonstration will push the Canadian government to act and distance itself from the president’s regime in Ethiopia.

Additionally, Tiku asked anyone interested in finding out more to visit their Twitter and online resources about the conflict.

“Help us raise awareness,” she said. “The starvation that’s happening today in Tigray is man-made, the government is choosing to do this.”

“The Ethiopian forces, the Eritrean forces, and the Amhara militia need to leave in order for aid to be delivered. They are actively restricting aid access to the people.”

The drive-by caravan protest and demonstration began at Oliver Square on 104 Avenue and 116 Street and concluded at Kingsway Mall.