This weekend’s clash in Bergen is a cry to be seen, and probably just the beginning of more confrontations between Eritreans in Norway and elsewhere.
Source: VG September 5
Summary
- Confrontations between Eritreans in Norway and elsewhere are probably just the beginning, according to Kjetil Tronvoll, professor of peace and conflict studies at Oslo Nye Høyskole.
- Eritreans marked the start of the war of liberation from Ethiopia on Saturday. It ended in counter-demonstrations and clashes with the police in Bergen. The organizer says they do not support the regime in Eritrea.
- Tronvoll believes the clashes are a cry to be seen and heard.
- According to a report from 2020, the Eritrean authorities attach great importance to controlling exile communities, including in Norway, and require them to pay 2 percent tax on their employment income to the Eritrean authorities.
Kjetil Tronvoll, professor of peace and conflict studies at Oslo Nye Høyskole (formerly Bjørknes Høyskole.) thinks so.
– We can very much expect that this is just the beginning of these confrontations. The festivals have become the new “battleground,” says Tronvoll to VG.
On Saturday, Eritreans marked the start of the war of liberation from Ethiopia that ended with secession in 1993. It set off strong emotions among many Eritreans in exile.
Demonstrations were held in Bergen which degenerated into violent clashes with the police. This has also happened in several other big cities around the world.
In Tel Aviv, over 150 people were injured in clashes with the police at the weekend. The demonstrators threw stones and batteries, while the police responded with rubber bullets.
Similar riots degenerated in Toronto in Canada, in Seattle in the USA and in Sweden where 140 people were arrested and 55 people injured in connection with a festival in early August.
– Be seen and heard
– This is a strategy to be seen and heard. How are you seen by the politicians? Yes, you are seen when you appear in the media – when you are active and demonstrative and violent. I do not defend the violence we saw in Bergen, but it must be understood in this context, says Tronvoll, who believes the police should be prepared for more such clashes in the future.
– They are not giving up, and until they bring about change in Eritrea, this will be a continuing policy.
See photos from demonstrations around the world:1 / 3
Eritrean protesters clash violently with police in Tel Aviv, Israel. 2nd of September.Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg / AP / NTB
Tronvoll, who has worked in Eritrea himself, believes the demonstrations are aimed both at the regime in Eritrea and the Norwegian authorities.
– The refugees believe that there is a lack of will at political level in Norway to tackle the problem of, among other things, refugee espionage, while at the same time they believe that Norway is not very active in influencing the situation in Eritrea in a more positive direction.
Finn Våge, head of the Eritrea Committee in Norway, believes that the responsibility does not lie with the young people who demonstrated in Bergen, but with the Norwegian government, which is not taking action.
– If we are to move forward, the Storting and the government must draw up a new action plan against transnational oppression. Via helpers in Norway, Eritreans are oppressed in order to crush all opposition and get money to Eritrea, he says to VG.
Two percent tax
A report from 2020 commissioned by the Solberg government describes how the Eritrean authorities attach great importance to taking control of the exile communities, including in Norway.
The procedure is described as a “coup” of governing bodies in the organisations.
Here, informants say that the Eritrean authorities set four requirements for incorporation:
- One must refrain from criticizing the current regime.
- Eritreans are required to pay two percent tax on their earned income to the Eritrean authorities.
- One must participate in the “correct” political, social, cultural, religious and social arenas, and avoid the “incorrect”.
- One must avoid associating with Eritreans who have not conformed, so that one cannot be suspected of being opposed to the Eritrean authorities.
Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Ap) tells BT that he is rejecting the two-percent tax.
– It is a topic we are aware of and which it is natural to follow up. But I am concerned that there must be a clear distinction between having views on it, and attacking the police in a Norwegian city and throwing stones at each other. It is unacceptable, says Støre.
– Does not support the regime
Chairman Hidru Ghebremichael Hidru of the Eritrean Association in Hordaland, which was behind the event in Bergen, denies that they support the regime in Eritrea.
– Our association has members with a background from Eritrea with different points of view. I cannot answer whether certain people support or do not support President Isaias Afwerki and the government of Eritrea, but the association does not support the president, he writes in an SMS to VG.
The money they collect, he says, goes to cover the rent of premises, guards, car hire and food and drink.
– We have been allowed to celebrate our national day and anniversaries in the same way as all other minority groups in Norway, and we try to teach our young people and children our language and our culture at the same time as they learn Norwegian language and culture, writes Hidru. He believes this contributes positively to the integration of Eritreans in Norway.
– How did you experience the riots in Bergen at the weekend?
– We experienced the incident as very unpleasant. This is simply terror! Violence solves nothing. Attacking innocent people in Norway does not solve anything in Eritrea. We have the right to gather and no one can take away our values, culture and language, writes Hidru.
He points out that there is freedom of expression and says they have never made noise at the counter-demonstrators’ events.
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Transnational network
Tronvoll believes the Eritreans’ desperation is expressed in more frequent protests against cultural festivals in the last five or six years. Festivals which, according to Tronvoll, are used to socialize exiles “into the militant nationalism” of their homeland.
The professor says that he has friends in Eritrea who were called up for military service in 1996 and who are still serving.
– The new thing is that the protesters who are against the regime have become much more structured and better organised. They also have a transnational network so that Eritreans from other countries come to participate in the demonstrations. And they are willing to use violence to interrupt the festivals, says the professor.
– You don’t fear that some of this could be due to Russian interference and influence?
– No. The regime in Eritrea is already an important ally for Russia. The counter-protesters will destroy the regime, therefore Russia will not support them.
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– There is pressure
Yoseph Gezai (65) was granted asylum in Norway when he fled Eritrea 35 years ago. He supports the protesters, but distances himself from the use of violence.
– I understand the frustration of these young people and that it boiled over. But that it became violent was stupid.
Ghezai himself has experienced what he refers to as oppression by the Eritrean regime while he has lived in Norway.
– My father-in-law died ten years ago. My wife was not allowed to go to Eritrea and bury him. The reason is that she is with me, he says.
Ghezai is involved in the Eritrea Committee in Norway and has been a public critic of Eritrea’s President Isaias Afwerki. This has led to limitations for him and his family.
– My children cannot travel to Eritrea, even if they are Norwegian citizens. To do so, they need an identity card from the embassy.
Martin Plaut 