By Mariam Belay (From Reporter GAZZETA) On the third day of the protest that took place last week ,Wednesday morning, the Merkato area, like any other part of the city, was lifeless and abandoned. Fekadu Negash, 20, who works in a garage, was at his home around a place called 'Addis Ketema'. He was standing by his door when he heard shootings and screamings. He went out to see what was happing, and before he knew it, he was shot dead on his doorstep. His younger brother, Abraham Yilma, 18, came running out of the house and called his mother shouting that his brother was shot. Both of them went out, and as Abraham took a step to pick up his brother, he saw the person who shot him. "He picked up his hand and said, that's my brother, let me pick him up," their mother, Etenesh, recalls in grief. "Then he shot him too. I saw my sons lying on the road, their blood flowing like water." "The youngest of the two came out of the house and saw his brothers. The man was going to shoot him if it wasn't for the screaming of my neighbors." Soon after, an ambulance came and took the two brothers. Their mother was not allowed to go with them, and she did not know where they were taking them. She later heard that one of them was already dead when the ambulance came, but the other one died on the way to hospital. Together with some relatives, their mother went to the Black Lion Hospital, where she hoped to find them. They had to walk on foot, as the minibus taxies were on strike and there was no transportation. When she got there, she did not find them, so she looked for them in other hospitals, to no avail. The next day, she went to Minilik Hospital, where a thorough search was carried out and their bodies were found lying there. Their funeral was on Friday. People of the neighborhood, and those who heard their stories gathered en masse for the service, carrying national flags and pictures of the two brothers. "The people of Ethiopia buried my sons and I was so grateful to see so much love," their mother said. But the people were not left alone to bury the dead peacefully. When the mourners were returning from the funeral, "they took them away and arrested them. It was only after mothers went to the nearest fire brigade police station and pleaded with them, falling at their feet, that they released their children, after beating them severely" Etenesh is now left with only two sons. The one who was almost shot and spared when women started screaming is still traumatised as a result of the shock he went through, seeing his brothers dead and startled by the gun that was pointed at him. The youngest is only 11 years old and in despair like the rest of the family. "My children, my brothers and sisters, all of us, are living in anguish. There is nothing in the world left for us," Etenesh said. The family depended on the meager income that Fikadu used to earn working in a garage and on what Abraham brought home working as a taxi assistant, after he came from school. Although their mother used to work in a coffee enterprise picking up coffee beans, she did not earn much and left the job four years ago. To add to the income her two sons used to bring home, she has been selling home-made bread. "They were striving every day to take the burden off my shoulders. Their dream was to work and support me and their younger brothers," she said mournfully. "They were shot dead on Their doorstep they did not even go out to the street, that's what makes my grief even worse." Giving birth to her sons at an early age, the first when she was 18, Etenesh has a reason to say that the two were not only her sons but also her companions. Although she got them from different fathers, she brought them up together and saw them grow up day by day before they perished infront of her eyes. She almost went insane unable to bear her sorrow, but as life goes on, she is coping. There was a rumor that Etenesh had committed suicide, but it was proved wrong as the writer of this article talked to her in person this Wednesday. "I seek justice from the people of Ethiopia" she said. "I am poor. I can not sue the government, nor can I claim anything. Today it is my children and children of many others. What about tomorrow and the day after?" she asks.