While Ethiopian authorities would not confirm the death count, Al Jazeera reported that four people were killed Saturday north of Addis Ababa in the northern Gondar region and two more were killed Friday.
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In Addis Ababa hundreds of people holding placards gathered at Meskel Square in the center of the city before police dispersed them, a Reuters witness said.
The government again blocked the internet over the weekend, saying “anti-peace elements” based overseas and online activists were to blame for the violence.
An opposition politician, Mulatu Gemechu, tells The Associated Press that more than 70 people were killed across Oromia.
“We are extremely concerned that the use of unofficial detention facilities may expose victims to further human rights violations including torture and other forms of ill-treatment”, said Michelle Kagari.
Several people are feared dead in clashes in north-western Ethiopia between police and anti-government protesters, amid a wave of unrest. People resorted to the rare acts of carrying banners criticizing political heavyweights and showing off the East African country’s former flag, used by the military government that the current administration overthrew in 1991.
Violence broke out as police brought one of the leaders of a land campaign movement to court, according to one person who said he had been in the crowd and asked to remain anonymous. Demonstrations took place despite the government’s warning that it would take measures against any unauthorized rallies.
Ethiopia, a close security ally of the West, is often accused by rights groups of stifling dissent.
People rallied around various causes.
There were clashes between security forces and protesters on Sunday in Bahir Dar, the Amhara regional capital. The arrest of members of a committee set up to oversee the reinstatement has led to violent clashes in the past week.
The protests in the region come in the wake of months of unrest in the central Oromiya province, where demonstrators objected to having land incorporated into the boundaries of the capital Addis Ababa. The proposal has since been retracted.
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Police used tear gas and fired in the air to disperse thousands of people who had blocked roads and chanted anti-government slogans.
