Christian Tadele, a member of the House of Representatives and Chairman of the Standing Committee on Government Expenditure, Management and Control, was taken from his home by security forces on Friday evening, August 3/2023. His family confirmed to the BBC Amharic that several policemen wearing federal police uniforms took him from his home in Addis Ababa. According to his family, the police “jumped the fence” and entered their house, taking Mr. Christian and some belongings with them. Mr. Christian’s family also stated that one of the policemen beat him while he was talking to them.

The next day, at around 8:30 AM, other policemen returned to Mr. Christian’s home and conducted a search. It is not known whether his right to immunity as a member of the council was lifted or whether his arrest was related to the state of emergency.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Government Communications, Dr. Leges Tulu, stated in a press conference that action is being taken in connection with the emergency declaration. He said that since last Friday, “we have started arresting the forces that are related to the issue, that are giving deployment, and that are aggravating the problem in different ways.” The executive body of the emergency declaration will announce the measures to be taken in the next few days.

Two days before his arrest, when the crisis in the Amhara region escalated, Ato Christian urged the administration of Abiy Ahmed to “immediately stop the invasion and killing of innocent people” and asked other parties to condemn the act. In recent House of Representatives meetings, he challenged the Prime Minister to “resign” and criticized the ruling party’s management of prosperity. He also wrote articles criticizing the government on social media.

Dr. Kasa Teshager, a member of the Addis Ababa city council, posted on his Facebook page at midnight that he was being told that “those who claim to be policemen come at night and open it!!”.