riots
Ban debate before another Eritrean meeting in Stuttgart
Sticks and battens recovered by the police lie on a table before the press conference on the riots. photo
© Andreas Rosar/dpa
Hundreds of people from Eritrea tried massively on Saturday to stop an event organized by their compatriots. After the large-scale operation, calls for a ban on the next meeting are getting louder.
After the renewed massive riots on the sidelines of an Eritrea event, the pressure on the city is growing Stuttgart to ban the planned next meeting of Eritrean clubs next Saturday.
Opposition parties in Baden-Württemberg are calling for this to be examined. In contrast, the Association of Eritrean Clubs announced that it would organize the next meeting as planned. According to a spokesman, the city is currently examining under what circumstances another event can be banned in advance.
Last Saturday, the police in Stuttgart had to defend an event organized by Eritrean associations against violently rioting demonstrators. 31 police officers were injured. Stuttgart is one of numerous similar disputes: for example in July again in Gießen, but also in August in Stockholm. The opponents accuse the organizing clubs of supporting the one-party dictatorship in Eritrea. In the isolated country there is no parliament, no independent courts, and hardly any freedom of expression or freedom of the press. There is a strict military service and forced labor system, which many Eritreans are fleeing abroad.
In Stuttgart, opponents of the event attacked participants and, above all, police officers. Baden-Württemberg’s Interior Minister Thomas Strobl (CDU) spoke of an “angry, violent and armed mob” against which the police officers, who were outnumbered, would have had to defend themselves in order to protect the event. The “excess of violence” came unexpectedly.
“Rain of stones” on police officers
In conversations with police officers, he was told of a “rain of stones” that the officers were exposed to. Strobl was convinced: “The police prevented a bloodbath. I was told that there would very likely have been deaths.”
The Interior Minister announced harsh consequences for the 228 suspected demonstrators who have since been arrested if the allegations are confirmed. She is being investigated for, among other things, serious breach of the peace and grievous bodily harm. “The criminal offenses in question are not trivial,” said Strobl. All but one of them were released on Sunday.
The Interior Minister announced harsh consequences for the 228 suspected demonstrators who have since been arrested if the allegations are confirmed. She is being investigated for, among other things, serious breach of the peace and grievous bodily harm. “The criminal offenses in question are not trivial,” said Strobl. All but one of them were released on Sunday.
Consequences demanded
The SPD and FDP demanded consequences from the experiences. Mayor Frank Nopper (CDU) must decide whether the next event needs to be banned, said SPD General Secretary Sascha Binder. FDP parliamentary group leader Hans-Ulrich Rülke accused the city and the Office for the Protection of the Constitution of not having been sufficiently prepared. “It is known that there can be conflicts between the two Eritrean factions in Germany.” If a ban on the upcoming meeting is not legally enforceable, the emergency services must be increased.
The organizing association shows little understanding for a possible ban. “It’s also about the question of whether an act of violence can have the say,” said Johannes Russom from the umbrella organization of Eritrean clubs in Stuttgart to the German Press Agency. Protecting the event is a task of the state. “As a democratic country, he must be interested in this.” Such events have taken place regularly and without incident over the past 40 years.