By Will Connors, Minassie Teshome, and Simegnish Yekoye

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia- Over a dozen people were wounded and an unknown number arrested yesterday as clashes between rioters and federal police interrupted celebrations for the Christian holiday, Timket (Epiphany) in Ethiopia’s capital.
Doctors at Menelik and Yekatit hospitals confirmed that three and ten people, respectively, had been admitted to their emergency rooms, including two from gunshot wounds.
This incident is yet another in a series of protests stemming from disputed May 2005 elections. In June and November riots, over 60 people were killed, and thousands have been arrested.
Timket is a holiday celebrated widely by Orthodox Christians in Ethiopia, and several thousand people gathered at various locations throughout the city to parade and honor icons of saints.
Federal police were prominently stationed near the religious proceedings, angering many participants, who began shouting chants such as, “Go away and let us celebrate the holiday in peace.”
Protesters appeared to initiate the throwing of stones, but as the unrest spread and the situation became more chaotic, soldiers from the federal police were also seen throwing rocks.
At approximately 11:30 am, two people were shot and wounded amidst a large crowd near Addis Ababa University at Sidist Kilo. Reporters for SSI were no more than five meters away from a man shot in the leg.
Though the police dispersed after the shootings, public crying and general disorder continued. The steep, uneven street and the panic induced by the gunfire caused several people to fall and be trampled by the crowd.
Hospital officials said that one of the injured was a young girl who was a singer in the holiday procession. "Most of them were in light condition, caused by the throwing of rocks," said one doctor. But a man who was shot in his hip was waiting for a surgical doctor because the bullet was still lodged in his body.
This man, 25 years old, had come from Merkato to accompany the icon of St. George from Janmeda to Piazza. "I was in the middle of the people when the bullet hit my body," he told SSI reporters while waiting at Menelik Hospital. "I did nothing to be shot."
Attempts to contact police authorities for comment were unsuccessful.
This unrest occurs as senior diplomats from the United States and Britain are in Ethiopia for attempted mediating sessions between Ethiopia and Eritrea, as well as between Ethiopia's opposition parties and the government.
"It damages the country's image because it happened in the presence of many tourists who have come here for the ceremony," a man told SSI after the violence. He added if the police forces would leave there would be peace. "I fear God, but I don’t fear the police," he added.
Eyewitnesses said that many young people were arrested and held in the compound of the Ethiopian Ministry of Economy and Development, in Sidist Kilo Square. Several women stood outside the ministry crying, saying that their children had been arrested.
When these women asked to see their children sitting in the compound, they were ordered by guards to leave. "We only want to know where our children were taken to," one mother said.
Rumors swirled that several people had been killed, but these allegations could not be confirmed. Tekalegn Weldu, a bystander who was at the crowded Jalmeda area, claims three people were killed. “I saw the police putting a dead body in their truck,” he said. “They were also arresting many people - I counted four trucks full of people passing by me.”