According to bbc There has not been a specific trigger and what we are seeing is an accumulation of years of frustration from ethnic groups who say they have been marginalised by the government.
Demonstrations began in Oromia last November. Protests have also sprung up more recently in the Amhara region.
Oromia and Amhara are the homelands of the country’s two biggest ethnic groups.
New York-based Human Rights Watch says that more than 400 people have been killed in clashes with the security forces in Oromia, although the government disputes this figure.
The Oromos, who make up around a third of the population, have long complained that they have been excluded from the country’s political process and the economic development which has seen the capital, Addis Ababa, transformed in recent years.
The protests were initially over a plan to expand the boundaries of Addis Ababa into the Oromia region.
That plan was dropped, but the demonstrations exposed some underlying issues and protests continued with the latest round taking place on Saturday in many places in Oromia and the capital, Addis Ababa.
At the root of the recent demonstrations in Amhara is a request by representatives from the Welkait Amhara Identity Committee that their land, which is currently administered by the Tigray regional state, be moved into the neighbouring Amhara region.
The Welkait committee says community members identify themselves as ethnic Amharas and say they no longer want to be ruled by Tigrayans.
Amharas used to form the country’s elite and the language, Amharic, remains the most widely spoken in the country.
