Hundreds of protesters today clashed with police in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa after campaigners called for nationwide protests due to what they say is an unfair distribution of wealth in the country.

Violence broke out as police tried to stop several hundred chanting protesters from accessing the historic Meskel square.

The demonstrations started as a small-scale student protest over the government's plan to expand Addis Ababa into adjacent farm lands of Oromiya, Ethiopia's largest constitutionally autonomous state.

Now they have evolved into a series of large and bloody demonstrations against the government, leaving hundreds dead and thousands jailed.

Yesterday, two people were killed in similar clashes with police in Ethiopia's ancient city of Gonder.

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