Monument to the Lion of Judah it was returned to Ethiopia after the negotiations in Addis Ababa. Emperor Haile Selassie took part in the new inauguration ceremony in military uniform, also recalling the patriotic gesture of Zerai Derres. After the 1974 revolution, the Derg regime thought of removing the monument, symbol of the monarchy, but an association of "Arbegnuoc" veterans claimed that it was a memory of Ethiopian antifascist resistance and a symbol of Ethiopia. So, the regime agreed to leave the monument, which is still in front of the Addis Ababa central station. The sculpture of the Lion of Judah, in gilded bronze, is placed
Monument to the Lion of Judah on May 8, 1937, on the occasion of the first anniversary of the proclamation of the Italian Empire. On June 15, 1938 the young Eritrean Zerai Deres made a protest against the Italian occupation of Ethiopia in front of the monument. Brandishing a scimitar, he wounded several onlookers and was shot by soldiers. He was arrested by the fascist militia and imprisoned in a psychiatric hospital in Sicily, where he died in 1945. For this gesture Zerai Deres is considered a national hero both in Eritrea and Ethiopia. The Lion of Judah statue remained in Rome until the 1960s, when