26 police officers were injured in riots on the fringes of the controversial Eritrea Festival in Gießen over the weekend. Opponents of the event on Saturday attacked officials with stones and bottles and set off smoke bombs. They broke through barriers and tried to get onto the festival site. The police used pepper spray and batons. There were also clashes with the police in the city. The situation remained peaceful on Sunday.
The organizer of the festival was the Central Council of Eritreans in Germany, which is considered controversial because of its proximity to the regime in the country on the Horn of Africa. In Eritrea, President Isayas Afewerki rules the country in a one-party dictatorship. Freedom of expression and freedom of the press are severely restricted. Human rights organizations have also repeatedly reported serious abuses. As early as August 2022, there had been violent riots with injured visitors and police officers at the previous event.
The city of Gießen had tried in vain to enforce a ban on the festival in court, also because the police had previously been informed that violent disruptors might be arriving. More than 1000 police officers were on duty in Gießen on Saturday, and other forces from all over Hesse have been alerted in the meantime. A water cannon was also available.
Lacerations, torn ligaments and strains
As the police announced in a preliminary summary of their four-day operation around the festival on Sunday evening, so far 125 criminal charges have been filed after the riots. It was almost exclusively about breach of the peace. 131 people were taken into custody. In more than 1,800 cases, people were checked or their identities determined.
In a statement on Sunday, the Eritrean government spoke of a colorful festival with demonstrations and a children’s program without mentioning the riots.
Of the 26 officers injured, seven suffered serious injuries such as broken bones, open abrasions and torn ligaments. The police said it was not known that visitors or opponents of the event had been seriously injured or that uninvolved third parties had suffered injuries.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) condemned the violence. Hesse’s Interior Minister Peter Beuth (CDU) called on the federal government to summon the state’s ambassador. “It must be made clear to the Eritrean government that Eritrean conflicts must not be fought on German soil,” he said on Saturday. “Our police officers are not the buffer stop for conflicts in third countries.”
The parliamentary secretary of the CDU/CSU in the Bundestag, Thorsten Frei, called for an “end of naivety in migration policy”. He told the dpa: “Anyone who accepts uncontrolled migration or – like the Greens – even promotes it regularly should not be surprised at the consequences.” AfD Vice-Chairman Stephan Brandner criticized that the Eritrea Festival was allowed to take place in Germany. “The dictatorship may celebrate itself in Eritrea. Something like that has no place in our country.”
From Frankfurt to Giessen
According to the city, the festival had moved from Frankfurt to Gießen more than ten years ago, probably because of the central location of the central Hessian city and the suitable hall for the festival, which is outside the city center.
The central Hesse police headquarters pointed out that preparations began immediately after the events were registered, and that the experiences of the previous event last August were also incorporated. This year there were calls on social media to prevent the festival by force, directed against visitors to the event and against the police. During consultations with the city, the danger prognosis was outlined in the course of the arrival of violent disruptors from other European countries. “Unfortunately, the police assessment of the risk situation was confirmed by the course of yesterday,” said the police.
The domestic political spokeswoman for the SPD parliamentary group in the Hessian state parliament, Heike Hofmann, spoke out in favor of not only critically questioning the security concept, but also the continued existence of the festival as a whole. The question arises as to “whether the event, which has been declared a “family celebration” and classified by critics as a propaganda event by the dictatorial regime in Eritrea, could take place again”.
The Mayor of Giessen Frank-Tilo Becher (SPD) is also calling for a reappraisal. “The pictures that went around the world from our city at the weekend are unbearable,” Becher was quoted as saying in a statement from the city. Thousands of bystanders were massively restricted in their everyday lives for more than a whole day. “In view of this, you really have to ask the question: Are these restrictions still in the right proportion to the organizer’s desire to celebrate a festival? This question needs to be addressed at all levels – politically and legally.”
The mood was partly heated on social networks. The police had warned against false reports. A spokesman said some of the videos circulating online showing the riots were believed to date from the previous year.
