Ethiopia: five people killed,28 wounded during protest action

Some 250 riot police went to disperse stone-throwing protesters who had set up roadblocks with burning tyres in the central Mercato area of Addis Ababa. These are the first disturbances in the capital since June's post-election protests when some 36 people died. The main opposition party began fresh protests on Monday over the polls.

The BBC's Mohammed Adow in Addis Ababa says that heavily armed police have shut many of the streets around the central shopping areas of Mercato and Piazza.

Stones litter the roads and shops are shut. Our reporter says many Muslims were out in the morning shopping in preparation for celebrations to mark the end of Ramadan on Wednesday.

The authorities acknowledged people had been killed on Tuesday but gave no details, saying only that those who had been shot had tried to attack police, according to Reuters A.M.