Ethiopian police have arrested 56 members of an Amhara political party following a failed coup attempt in the region over the weekend, the party's spokesman said on Thursday.

The arrests happened in the capital of Addis Ababa, said Christian Tadele, spokesman for the National Movement of Amhara, an increasingly popular ethnocentric party founded last year and a rival to the Amhara party in the EPRDF coalition.

The police and prime minister's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.