There were violent riots at an Eritrea event in Stuttgart. Up to 200 people attacked participants in the event and police officers with stones, bottles and wooden slats, the police said on Sunday night.
According to the statement, a total of 26 police officers, four event participants and two opposition members were injured in the riots. Six officers had to be treated in hospital and five police officers were unable to continue their duties. As the police announced on Sunday afternoon, 228 people were arrested.
A police spokesman reported that around 200 people gathered on Saturday for an event organized by the Association of Eritrean Clubs in Stuttgart and the surrounding area. The clubs would sympathize with the government in Eritrea. At lunchtime, several opponents of the event gathered at Bad Cannstatt train station and Stuttgart main station. They rejected the police’s offer of an alternative meeting location. Finally, participants in the counter-event attacked members of the Eritrean association and police officers “with, among other things, wooden slats, some with nails, metal rods, bottles and stones.”
According to the city, there were no reasons for a ban. “Gatherings in closed rooms do not require registration,” the state capital announced late on Saturday evening. “There were no reasons for a ban on today’s Eritrea event.” The city of Stuttgart will draw conclusions from the public prosecutor’s investigation results.
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.
