The shoes lay scattered on the pavement as the detained protesters walked barefoot through the rain escorted by grim-faced police officers who casually beat them with batons to keep them moving.
In nearby Meskel Square here in the heart of the Ethiopian capital, police kicked around the remnants of protest signs. Just 10 minutes earlier, 500 people had gathered at the site – shouting slogans against the government before being beaten, rounded up and carted off by police.
The government is responding in the same way it has responded to such incidents for the last quarter of the century
In Ethiopia’s countryside, however, it was a bloodier story. Rights groups and opposition figures estimate that dozens were killed in a weekend of unprecedented protests that shook this key US ally in the Horn of Africa.
The government had switched off the internet over the weekend, apparently to prevent demonstrators from organising, so it was only by Monday that word spread of the extent of the violence across the Oromia and Amhara regions.
Just a year ago, Ethiopia was basking in the world’s spotlight after a visit from President Barack Obama and global accolades for its decade of double-digit growth and enviable stability in a dangerous region.
Since then, however, this country of nearly 100 million has been hit by a widespread drought that has halved growth, and anti-government protests have spread across two of its most populous regions.