The demonstrations, in Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem, escalated, with police and Ethiopians blaming each other for use of violence. The demonstrators, some carrying Israeli flags, defied any attempt to depict them as subversive or disloyal, insisting it was the state that betrayed them and breached the republican equation: “We serve, Ethiopians are first in line for top combat units, sacrificing their lives in all wars. And, in return, the state, how does it treat them?” (ibid.). Demonstrators not only stressed their military service, but repeatedly chanted two more names, Avera Mengistu and Yosef Salamsa, whose stories are emblematic of the state’s betrayal of its Ethiopian citizens. Avera Mengistu, a troubled young man, crossed the border to Gaza in September 2014 and since disappeared, presumably held by Hamas. During the demonstrations in 2016, most Israelis were unfamiliar with the name as the affair was silenced in hope that it would help his release. For the demonstrators, however, and activists supporting the family, it was clear that had Mengistu not been Ethiopian greater efforts for his release would have been employed. Yosef Salamsa, another young Ethiopian man, was arrested by police officers who used a taser gun, handcuffed him and left him for hours outside the police station. After the event, Salamsa withdrew to himself, fell into depression and four months later was found dead in what was declared a suicide.