Ethiopia has been undergoing ‘democratic transitions’ with the coming into power of the reformist Prime Minister Abiy Ahimed in April 2018 after 27 years of authoritarian rule by Ethiopian People Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). Abiy, who is the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize winner, took bold reform measures that widens the democratic space and promises liberalizations of the economy as soon as he came to power. As a result, he has received widespread national and international recognitions for the swift reform measures and opening ups of the democratic environment. Ethiopians in and outside the country massively supported him with the democratic reforms and promises that he has made. Moreover, the reforms were widely heralded by foreign powers. Internally, citizens largely hoped for a non-violent transition to democracy with the rise of Abiy. Yet, there have been daunting violent collective actions, particularly communal violence, despite the democratic open ups and bold reform moves. These developments in Ethiopia invoke critical question over the relation between democracy and violence. Democracy has been largely considered peaceful and devoid of violence. Yet, democracy and violence have a complicated and linear relation. The oldest democracies such as Colombia, Mexico, and India are known for high level of social and political violence. Particularly, new, or emerging democracies in the countries in the Global South are more violent than the one in the Global North where relatively a consolidated democracy exists. Thus, delinking violence from democracy is missing the complicated and linear relation between the two. This further limits the proper understanding of the violent side of democracy and democratic transitions. Using ethnographic research approach and case study design, the study tries to understand the complex and linear relation between democracy and violence in the context of Ethiopia’s transition. The study furthers the understanding of the nature of democratization and the dynamics of violence in the context of the current transition in Ethiopia. This plays key roles to properly understand the dynamics and complexity of democratic transition and informs ways not only to minimize the effects of violence but also strategies by which democracy can take root and consolidated.