Demonstrations
Riots in Stuttgart at Eritrea event
A group of people are surrounded by police forces after riots at an Eritrean event. photo
© Thomas Niedermueller/dpa
There are violent scenes in Stuttgart in connection with an Eritrea event. Stones and bottles fly and wooden slats are used as weapons. The police speak of skirmishes.
200 people came together for an event organized by the Association of Eritrean Associations in Stuttgart and the surrounding area. The clubs sympathized with the government in Eritrea, the spokesman said. At lunchtime, several small groups gathered at Bad Cannstatt train station and Stuttgart main station. They attacked the event participants at the Roman fort and threw bottles and stones at them. They also attacked the participants with wooden slats.
The police used batons and pepper spray against the attackers, said the spokesman. The riots were still ongoing. “There are still skirmishes,” he said in the afternoon. Forces were ordered from surrounding police headquarters and from the police headquarters and the federal police. Forces would also be flown in by helicopter. The situation is confusing.
Eritrea is largely isolated internationally
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.