With regards to the protests in the Amhara region, there is reason for the gov's security response to come in for scrutiny. A top caliber journalist in @Akemeloo mapped out the destruction of Shashemene following Hachalu Hundessa's murder last year. His map here reveals a lot...

Akemel put painstaking effort in to produce this. In red, are areas which saw extensive destruction caused by mobs. In yellow, bases/HQs of security institutions in Shashemene belonging to the Ethiopian army, Oromia special police, as well as zone/city security institutions.

In Shashemene, security forces intervened long after mobs of youths laid waste to the city and killed scores. But as this shows, the destruction occurred in areas as far as 1km and as close as 10 meters away from police and army strongholds.

In blue are areas which had a heavy security force presence throughout the killings. The yellow dots housed by number: 1. Ethiopian Army 2.Ethiopian Federal police 3.East Arsi zone police 4. Shashemene woreda police 5. Shashemene city police 6. Oromia special forces.

After the carnage, police took the city's mayor into custody, saying he didn't do enough to prevent the killings, despite half of the security forces in the area not being under his command. Also....

In court, that same mayor Temam Hussein testified that he ordered security forces to mobilize, but that they refused orders. He said fearing the worst, he made a panicked phone call to Oromia regional President @ShimelisAbdisa, who according to him, told him to "go to sleep."

Why a mob of youths in July 2020 was allowed to roam Shashemene, a city that boasted a heavy security forces presence, killing & looting unabated in for so long...is a question that the authorities have not answered. It definitely gives weight to a number of prevailing theories.