Many thanks to Gary Fouse for translating this article from the Süddeutsche Zeitung:

Violence at Eritrea Festival

All injured police released from hospital

July 9, 2023

At the controversial Eritrea Festival in Giessen, bottles and rocks were flying. Police were injured, and 200 people arrested. Hesse’s interior minister is calling on the federal government to act.

Violence, injured police officers, and property damage. At the beginning of the controversial Eritrea Festival in Giessen on Saturday, there were riots. 28 police officers were injured, according to the police reports. “The colleagues were massively attacked, rocks thrown, bottles thrown, smoke bombs,” said a police spokesperson. Some of them were able to continue work. By Sunday, all officers taken to the hospital for treatment had been released, said a police spokesperson. According to current information, no bystanders were injured.

“In this context, the rescue center is unaware of any persons who took part in the acts of violence or attended the event having serious injuries.” Altogether, 100 investigative proceedings have been opened for bodily injury or breach of the peace, among other things.

The festival continued on Sunday despite the riots the day before. As in the night, the morning was quiet. The police were deployed with heavy forces. We are “prepared for all eventualities,” said a spokesperson. The controls in the city area were continued, and there were no significant violations.

On Saturday police checked more than 400 people, and banned a large part of them from the location. Some 100 persons were taken into custody, some of whom had traveled from other European countries. It involves suspicion of bodily injury, breach of the peace, resistance against law enforcement officials, and property damage. More than 1,000 police officers were deployed at the location. Hundreds of others from all over Hesse were called in.

The mood was also partly heated on social networks. The police warned of false reports. A police spokesperson said that some of the videos circulating on the internet showing riots are believed to be from the previous year.

State Interior Minister Peter Beuth (CDU) called on the federal government to summon Eritrea’s ambassador. “It must be made clear to the Eritrean government that Eritrean conflicts cannot be fought out on German soil,” said Beuth in Wiesbaden. “Our policewomen and policemen are not a buffer for conflicts in third countries.”

Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) tweeted: “I strongly condemn the violence and rioting against police officers in Giessen. Thanks to all the emergency forces. My thoughts are with the injured officers.”

With its some three million inhabitants, Eritrea lies in northeast Africa on the Red Sea and is largely isolated internationally. President Isayas Afewerki has ruled the country for thirty years in a one-party dictatorship since a decades-long war fought for independence from Ethiopia. Other parties are banned, and freedom of speech and press are strongly restricted. There is neither a parliament, nor independent courts, nor civil society organizations. In addition, there is a strict military service and forced labor system, from which many people have fled abroad.

City of Giessen wanted to ban festival

The Eritrea Festival is controversial because the organizer, the Central Committee of Eritreans in Germany, is considered to be close to the Eritrean government. The police had been preparing for days for a large-scale situation and the arrival of potentially violent persons, after there had already been riots at a previous event in August. The city of Giessen initially banned the Eritrea Festival due to security concerns. However, this was overturned by the Giessen administrative court. On Friday, the Hessian administrative court confirmed the decision in the first instance.

Since early Saturday morning, according to police reports, groups of people of different sizes were seen rioting in various locations. People had torn down barrier fences and tried to break through police barriers. One group of an estimated 100-150 persons tore down a fence at the event location. At the festival in Hesse Hall, there were about 2,000 participants, according to police reports.

There were clashes in various locations in the city, and objects were thrown from a bridge. Meanwhile, the police called on the public on Twitter to avoid the city area and drive around it. In the afternoon, the situation had apparently calmed down. A demonstration with about 100 participants went on without further incidents, a police spokesperson said.