The Statehouse is often used as a gathering place for people with a variety of viewpoints and representing many causes – even if they seem to have nothing to do with Ohio government.
About 100 people born in Ethiopia or of Ethiopian descent waved flags and signs in the shadow of the Rotunda of the Ohio Statehouse. But they were calling on the federal government to cut off funding to the dominant political party, which they claim is terrorizing the Ethiopian people. Organizer Asheber Belayneh said there are some 15,000 Ethiopians in Columbus alone, and he hopes the event will raise awareness of what’s happening in their homeland. “We are law-abiding people. We are hard-working people. At the same time, we are defending democracy here in the United States as well as in Africa,” he said.
A few days before, residents of Indian descent came to the Statehouse to celebrate India’s independence day – and also to draw attention to the presence of that community in Ohio.
Copyright 2016 The Statehouse News Bureau
