On Tuesday, 13th September 2016, an Ethiopian marathon runner who made a protest gesture towards government violence as against members of his tribe at the recent Olympic Games in Rio has requested that he remains in the United States.

Following the Olympic Games, the Ethiopian runner, Feyisa Lilesa, drew his people and the world’s attention to his country’s suppression of the Oromo ethnic group by the “X” sign he made with his arms over his head as he finished second in the Olympics game.

“At the moment, the Ethiopian government is killing and imprisoning its own people,” Lilesa told a news conference. “If this situation continues as is, I have no doubt Ethiopia is staring at the abyss.”

However, the protest has sparked the country’s worst unrest in more than a decade and has thus led to the killing of hundreds. Therefore, the Ethiopian runner felt unsafe to return home after making the protest gesture and sought to remain in the United States.

Read more at Reuters