Was This The Bravest Act of The 2016 Rio Olympics?
In what appeared to be a simple act of celebration during track and field’s final event in this years Summer Olympics turned out to be a politically charged action that could get the silver metal winner killed if he returns back to his country.
“IF I AM NOT KILLED MAYBE THEY WILL PUT ME IN PRISON. [IF ] THEY [DO] NOT PUT ME IN PRISON THEY WILL BLOCK ME AT AIRPORT. I HAVE GOT A DECISION. MAYBE I MOVE TO ANOTHER COUNTRY.”
While approaching the finish line Feyisa Lilesa raised his hands while crossing his arms in a show of unity with his countrymen.
The ‘X’ shaped hand gesture is a symbol of solidarity with the Oromo people who have been protesting at government plans to reallocate farmland.
Ethiopian security forces have killed more than 400 protesters, and arrested thousands more during extensive protests in the Oromia region since November 2015.
The people of Oromo, Ethiopia’s largest region, are at odds with the government for what they say is an unfair distribution of wealth. The authorities scrapped the plan for land redistribution in January but recent protests over continued incarceration of opposition leaders has flared up over the past month.
