Ethiopia‘s Feyisa Lilesa held his arms over his head, wrists crossed, as he finished second at the Olympic marathon on Sunday in a gesture of support for members of his Oromo tribe who have been protesting at government plans to reallocate farmland.
Plans to allocate land surrounding the capital for development prompted fierce demonstrations in November and spread for months, in the country’s worst unrest in more than a decade.
Ethiopia has long been one of the world’s poorest nations but has industrialised rapidly in the past decade. However, reallocating land is a thorny issue for Ethiopians, many of whom are subsistence farmers.
Authorities scrapped the scheme in January, but protests flared again this month over the continued detention of opposition demonstrators.
Rights groups say hundreds have been killed. The government disputes the figures and says illegal protests by “anti-peace forces” have been brought under control.
If I go back to Ethiopia maybe they will kill me. If I am not killed maybe they will put me in prison. [If ] they [do] not put me in prison they will block me at airport.Feyisa Lilesa
“Oromo is my tribe ... Oromo people now protest what is right, for peace, for a place,” Lilesa explained after his silver-medal performance, adding that he feared he would face consequences for the gesture when he returned home.
“Maybe I move to another country ... you get the freedom if you support only the government. You cannot work without that.”
Feyisa Will Have “a Heroic Welcome”: Government
Meanwhile, the government in Ethiopia have issued a statement claiming that they will give him a “heroic welcome” when he returns to Ethiopia.
The marathon runner will not face prosecution upon his return home and will have “a heroic welcome,” a government spokesman said Monday.
Lilesa “will not face any problems for his political stance,” the government spokesman, Getachew Reda, told the state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate. “After all, this is an athlete who secured a silver medal for his country.”
It was not immediately clear whether Lilesa plans to return. He told reporters that he would discuss the issue with family and friends.
Ethiopia’s state broadcaster, EBC, did not re-broadcast images of Lilesa’s gesture. Some people who were watching live and cheering for Lilesa quickly hushed when they saw his gesture.
(With inputs from Reuters and AP)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)