July 7 & 8, 2005 as part of a planned Ethiopia global protest rally. The rally is due to take place on Thursday July 7, 2005 at Carter Center, whereas the next day, Friday July 8, Ethiopians will converge at Martin Luther King Jr. Center to march towards CNN Headquarters.

The recent political upheaval that left more than 40 innocent Ethiopians dead, has met with world-wide condemnation. Ethiopians in the diasporas, have staged scores of protests and demonstrations against the regime of Prime Minister of Meles Zenawi, solely responsible for the senseless killings, torture and mass arrests of June 8, 2005.

The Atlanta’s mass rally, a continuation of the demonstrations held so far throughout the world, will once again expose to the world that the seemingly democratic gestures of Meles Zenawi has finally surfaced to its true nature of dictatorship and barbaric acts. Ethiopians from all over the United States and the world at large will converge in Atlanta during the first week of July to celebrate 22nd annual Ethiopian Sports Federation in North America (ESFNA). This year’s festivities will be featured differently as the nation mourns the death of unarmed citizens in Addis Ababa and elsewhere in the country.

The demonstration and the mass rally will denounce and express our indignation over the June 8 brutal acts of Meles Zenawi’s regime and at the same time express our deepest sorrow and support to the Ethiopian people who struggle for decades for peace, democracy, equality and respect of human rights.

After the May 15, 2005 election, many Ethiopians thought that the time has finally come where smooth and peaceful transition of power would take into effect in Ethiopia. However, the various dubious ways by which the regime of Meles Zenawi employed in order to manipulate the election results, raised serious concern even among those genuine friends who stood shoulder to shoulder with the prime minister.

The fact that Meles’s regime lost in Addis Ababa and in other parts of the country on May 15 elections, speaks volumes by itself that the people of Ethiopia have opted for a fundamental change, a change that Meles and his cabinet are reluctant either to comprehend or accept the peoples’ will. The Atlanta’s demonstration will once again serve as the people’s voice which has ruthlessly been suppressed for years.

Atlanta Organizing Committee

Mekonnen (404) 735-2875, Sisay (678)637-3454, Dawit (678) 437-5597