After the riots at an event organized by Eritreans, Baden-Württemberg’s Interior Minister Strobl wants to have the events dealt with. Despite the incidents, another festival is scheduled to take place on Saturday.
Baden-Württemberg’s Interior Minister Thomas Strobl has announced that he will carefully examine the riots at an event organized by Eritreans in Stuttgart. For this purpose, an investigative group with 20 members has been set up, which will also receive support from the immigration authorities. The CDU politician explained this after a visit to the police on site.
Videos are also evaluated, of which there are “a whole series”. He was sure that the constitutional state “will have a clear and tough answer,” said Strobl.
Strobl, who is also the state’s interior minister, also stated that the number of injured police officers had risen to 31. This number is likely to rise because injuries are often only discovered days later “when the adrenaline wears off.” All police officers were only slightly injured, mainly bruises and bruises.
“Unexpected excess of violence”
Of the 228 suspects, the vast majority have been identified, said Strobl. They are accused, among other things, of breach of the peace and grievous bodily harm. Opponents of the Eritrea event attacked participants and police officers with sticks and stones. Strobl spoke of a “sudden and unexpected excess of violence by an angry mob.”
Regarding the political assessment, Strobl said: “Violence is not a means of political debate. Everyone in this country needs to know that.” Anyone who attacks police officers makes it clear that they do not want to live in this community and do not want to belong to it.
Next event already planned
Despite the massive riots at the weekend, another Eritrea event is scheduled to take place in Stuttgart next Saturday (September 23rd). “It’s also about the question of whether an act of violence can have the say,” said Johannes Russom from the Association of Eritrean Clubs in Stuttgart to the dpa news agency. Protecting the event is a task of the state. “He has to be interested in this as a democratic country,” Russom said. Such events have taken place regularly and without incident over the past 40 years.