“Violence at Eritrean party in Netherlands raises concerns about risk sensitivity”

At the Event Plaza Rijswijk conference center this afternoon, prior to an Eritrean party, various groups came to blows. It was also stabbed. Police say several people were injured.

The Mobile Unit closed off the area around the conference center for some time. It is still unclear whether anyone has been arrested.

The different groups were at Event Plaza to celebrate the Eritrean Independence Day. Even before the party could start, the brawl broke out, reports Broadcasting West. On May 24, 1993, the African country gained independence from Ethiopia.

There have been tensions among Eritrean refugees in the Netherlands for some time now. Last August, a meeting that the Dutch Eritrean Platform Foundation (SNEP) wanted to hold in the same Event Plaza was banned by the judge because of the event’s “risk sensitivity”.

Critics then said that the meeting was organized by the ‘long arm’ of the Eritrean regime, according to a letter written by lawyer Emiel Jurjens on behalf of the Foundation for Human Rights for Eritreans. Jurjens feared that the meeting would be used to pressure Eritreans to pay taxes to the regime.

It has been known for some time that Eritreans in the Netherlands are forced to hand over money to the military regime, even if they have fled the same regime. This was shown, for example, in 2020 by research by Argos.

Eritrean events have been held in Rijswijk since 2003, and this has been criticized for some time because senior representatives of the ruling party are regularly invited. In the past, counter-demonstrations have been organized at Event Plaza for this reason.