Ethiopians celebrate Adwa Victory Day, in the capital Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on March 2, 2021. Photo: VCG

Tens of thousands of Ethiopians rallied in Addis Ababa Sunday to support Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government as federal troops fight rebellious forces threatening to march on the capital.

Some demonstrators denounced the US one of the foreign powers that has called for a cease-fire to a year-long war, which has intensified amid advances by rebellious forces in the past week.

The UN Security Council, the African Union, and Kenya and Uganda have also called for a cease-fire in the conflict that has killed thousands of people.

Canada, calling the situation in Ethiopia "rapidly evolving and deteriorating," has withdrawn the families of its embassy staff and non-essential Canadian employees, the foreign ministry said on Sunday. 

Abiy's government, which has pledged to keep fighting, said on Friday it had a responsibility to secure the country and urged foreign powers to stand with Ethiopia's democracy. 

The state-appointed Ethiopian Human Rights Commission said Sunday the authorities appeared to be using a state of emergency declared on Tuesday to arrest people based on ethnic identity.

"In some police stations, the families are denied access to the detainees, and they can't deliver food and clothing. On top of that, elders and mothers with children are among the detainees," the commission said in a statement.

The government spokesperson Legesse Tulu and federal police spokesperson Jeylan Abdi did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Police spokesperson Fasika Fante denied on Thursday that arrests were ethnically motivated, saying those detained "directly or indirectly" backed the Tigray People's Liberation Front, an outlawed party that was once part of Ethiopia's government.

Some of those gathered for the rally in Meskel Square in Addis Ababa draped themselves in the national flag.

"Shame on you USA," read one placard, while another said the US should stop "sucking Ethiopia's blood."

US President Joe Biden's administration on Tuesday accused Ethiopia of "gross violations" of human rights and said it planned to remove the country from a US trade pact.

Reuters