Feyisa Lilesa of Ethiopia may have turned himself into a political exile because of the way he won a silver medal in the Olympics marathon on Sunday.
He strode across the finish line with his arms crossed over his head in a sign of solidarity for the Oromo people, his native group and the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia. He repeated the sign at a press conference.
Huge protests by the Oromos have swept the streets of Ethiopia.
The government was brutal in putting down the demonstrations, nonprofit groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch reported.
“In nine months, more than 1,000 people have been killed,” Lilesa said on Sunday.
CNN could not immediately confirm this statement. Human Rights Watch said that since November, more than 400 people have been killed and tens of thousands arrested. Thousands more have been jailed.
“Human Rights Watch’s research indicates that security forces repeatedly used lethal force, including live ammunition, to break up many of the 500 reported protests that have occurred since November 2015,” the group reported on its website.
In response to the protests and the report from Human Rights Watch, Getachew Reda, Ethiopia’s Minister of Communications, told CNN that the country’s security response was standard police protocol to disperse “rioters.” He also disputed the number of deaths.
Some of the protesters have been armed with guns and hand grenades, he added.
In a report on the Oromos, Amnesty International said at least 5,000 Oromos were arrested because of peaceful protests or opposition to the government between 2011 and 2014.
Lilesa won silver on Sunday with a time of 2:09:54, finishing behind liud Kipchoge of Kenya. He finished with a time of 2:08:44.
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