ETHIOPIA: At least 22 people died during clashes between armed police and opposition supporters in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa yesterday, the third day of popular protests against the results of last month's election.
Several hundred people were also injured after police opened fire on the demonstrators.
The government said last night it had authorised police to take "appropriate action" against further civil disturbances
The government's information minister, Bereket Simon, blamed supporters of the main opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD).
"Today, some of their followers - and some who wanted to use this opportunity for looting - have gathered in some parts of Addis and disrupted the smooth functioning of life. So the government had to use the anti-riot police to resolve the situation," Mr Simon said.
However, the claims were ridiculed by opposition parties, which accuse the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front of rigging the vote.
The opposition made sweeping gains, and may have won as many as 20 of the capital's 23 seats.
Berhanu Nega, vice-chairman of the CUD, said: "Our sense is that the government is deliberately targeting us and fomenting violence to stop the electoral process and then blaming it on the opposition."
Protesters gathered in the city centre yesterday despite a month-long ban on demonstrations imposed in the wake of the poll.
Riot police opened fire on the protesters after they began throwing stones, according to witnesses.
But some of the victims at the Black Lion Hospital said they had nothing to do with the protests.
Atenyesh Mamo, a 39-year-old mother of two, said she was shot in the waist after opening the door to her home to bring her seven-year-old son in as protests escalated.
"I don't know why they shot me as all I was doing was looking for my son," she said while waiting for an X-ray.
"I am very angry and I don't know why the soldiers want to shoot us."
Prime Minister Meles Zanawi's EPRDF party is expected to be returned with a reduced majority once results are finalised.
The elections - only the third multi-party elections to be held in Ethiopia - were viewed as a critical test of his commitment to democracy after leading rebels into Addis Ababa in 1991.