IN PICTURES: Irreecha 2021 celebrated in Oromia
Tens of Thousands of Oromos celebrated Irreecha 2021 in Oromia capital city Finfinne on Saturday. The participants began gathering early in the morning to commemorate the Oromo thanksgiving day.
- Yeroo media staff joined the festival and captured some of the moments.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said the holiday is a symbol of love and a time to count blessings. It is expected to be a two day event, to be celebrated on Sunday at Bishoftu where it is traditionally held continuously every year. For the first time in over 150 years, the holiday started to be celebrated at Finfinne/Addis Ababa in 2019 after the rise to power of Abiy.
Despite the mostly peaceful end of day-one of the festival, minor disturbances and brief protests by hundreds of Jawar Mohammed supporters were also witnessed. In addition to demanding Jawar’s release, the protesters chanted the “Down down Nefxenya” chant that was controversially heard during mass killings in 2019 and 2020. The derogatory phrase has developed both ethnic and religious connotations depending on location, often inspiring mobs who killed Oromo Christians in Islam majority areas while targeting non-Oromo minorities in other parts of Oromia. Activists Eskinder Nega and Jawar have been imprisoned since the 2020 July riots, where the two figures were accused of inciting ethnic-based violence and tensions.
Adanech Abebie, Finfinne’s first woman mayor, also praised the participants and said Irreecha represents the harvest of peace and co-existence. The mayor, who is also Oromo, told local media the gathering of over tens of thousands of Oromos in the capital was a rejection of calls by militants to boycott the annual festival.
