2023-09-16 19:02:36
Violent riots broke out on the sidelines of an Eritrea event in the German city of Stuttgart. Up to 200 people attacked meeting participants and police officers with stones, bottles and wooden slats, a police spokesman told the German Press Agency on Saturday. 24 officers were injured.
The police surrounded 170 people that evening. The spokesman said they were accused of a serious breach of the peace. Videos on social media show men attacking police officers with wooden bars and bottles.
According to police, around 200 people gathered on Saturday afternoon for an event organized by the Association of Eritrean Clubs in Stuttgart and the surrounding area. According to the police spokesman, the clubs sympathized with the government in Eritrea. At lunchtime, several small groups of opposition members gathered at Bad Cannstatt train station and Stuttgart main station. They attacked the officers at the Stuttgart Roman fort and threw bottles and stones at them. They also attacked meeting participants and police officers with wooden slats.
The police used batons and pepper spray against the attackers, said the spokesman. Forces were ordered from surrounding police headquarters and from the police headquarters and the federal police. Police officers were also flown in by helicopter. The situation was confusing for a long time. Officials asked citizens to avoid the area. Residents were asked to stay at home. In the evening the police reported that the situation was largely stable. She recorded the personal details of 170 suspected attackers.
Eritrea, with a population of around three million, is located in northeast Africa on the Red Sea and is largely isolated internationally. Since independence from Ethiopia was won in a decades-long war 30 years ago, President Isaias Afewerki has ruled the country in a one-party dictatorship. Other parties are banned and freedom of expression and freedom of the press are severely restricted. There is neither a parliament nor independent courts or civil society organizations. There is also a strict military service and forced labor system, from which many people flee abroad.
In July there were riots at an Eritrea festival in Gießen, Hesse, with at least 26 injured police officers when opponents of the event attacked security forces by throwing stones and bottles and setting off smoke bombs. Among other things, the officers used batons against them. The organizers of the event in Giessen were close to the controversial leadership of the East African country. In August, violent riots broke out at an Eritrean festival in Stockholm, leaving more than 50 people injured.
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