Source: NL Times
Police fire tear gas after Eritrean groups riot in The Hague; Police cars torched
Police officers in The Hague used tear gas in an attempt to quell rioting after a brawl broke out between two groups of Eritreans at the Opera conference hall on Fruitweg. A police car was also set on fire near the scene on Saturday evening. It is was not immediately known whether there were any injuries.
It is not yet known what caused the confrontation. Rioters pelted the police with large rocks, bicycles and traffic signs. According to Omroep West, bicycles, branches and fireworks were also thrown.
The windows of the conference center were smashed. The rioters were also trying to break inside, according to a reporter at the scene. The police were trying to protect the building. The fire brigade was dispatched to the scene, but left the area.
Two police vehicles were set on fire after the rioting broke out. Police officers and a riot squad drove people away using police vans, according to an ANP reporter at the scene. The situation was scaled up to a Grip 2 regional emergency, a protocol where all first responders on the scene coordinate under a single commander, and a regional response team sets up in an office further away.
The mayor of The Hague, Jan van Zanen, gave police the authority to use tear gas, a police spokesperson confirmed after initial reporting from regional media outlet Regio15. Van Zanen also issued an emergency order for the area around Fruitweg, a spokesperson for the municipality of The Hague said.
The spokesperson said that the emergency order applies to a radius of 500 meters around the conference center. With the order, police can stop and screen anyone in the area, and then decide whether or not to sent them away. Anyone who does not leave can be arrested.
Transport company HTM said that tram 11 and bus 26 were being detoured by order of the police.
Police cars torched during rioting between rival groups of Eritreans in the Netherlands
By Associated Press
February 17, 2024 at 3:40 p.m. EST
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Rioting broke out between two rival groups of Eritreans in the Netherlands on Saturday night, police said. Officers used tear gas in an attempt to quell the unrest in The Hague as rioters torched police cars and a bus.
Images from the scene showed vehicles in flames and dozens of men in the street, some throwing rocks.
“It got seriously out of hand,” The Hague Municipality spokesman Robin Middel said.
Middel said a group loyal to Eritrea’s government was holding a meeting when the venue was attacked by Eritreans who oppose the African nation’s government.
Police spokeswoman Kristianne van Blanken said she could not immediately say if anybody was injured or if any rioters were arrested.
The fighting is the latest outbreak of violence at Eritrean events in Europe.
Dozens of people, including at least 26 police officers, were injured during unrest surrounding an Eritrean cultural festival in the southwestern German city of Stuttgart in September 2023. A fight the same month between Eritrean government supporters and opponents in Tel Aviv led to violent street confrontations among African asylum-seekers and migrants.
Months earlier, a clash at an Eritrean festival in the western German city of Giessen left 22 police officers injured.
Tens of thousands of people have fled Eritrea for Europe, many alleging they were mistreated by the repressive government of President Isaias Afwerki. The conflicts underscore deep divisions among members of the Eritrean diaspora between those who remain close to the government and those who have fled to live in exile and strongly oppose Isaias.
Martin Plaut 
To everyone from the Eritrean opposition who might be reading this: could you please, please renounce violence when you are protesting the regime? I understand how frustrating it must be, thinking to have escaped tyranny and then facing it again at the place of refuge. Being forced by the authorities of your respective countries of refuge to turn to the Eritrean embassy for documents and thus being forced to financially support the dictatorship. I get that. But I am one of the very few ordinary European citizens who do. Everyone else only sees African migrannts causing trouble. What do you think it feels like trying to convince anyone around you that not all migrants and refugees are a danger, what do you think it feels like trying to fight racism and xenophobia and then have it all undone with one burning car on the news? Look, I am German and the rats called Nazis are coming crawling out of their rat holes. If you know anything about German history you will know this is no laughing matter.
It is in no ones interest if far right parties are getting strengthend and come to power in Europe. Least of all in yours.
Well, I fear nobody will read this anyway, but I had to try. Had to try because I actually care about you.
Hello kind person! Thank you for being an ally. It’s crazy how a peaceful protest turns violently & then having to waste tax payers money perhaps or even worst putting civilians & law enforcement at risk. The Eritrean “cultural festival” is supposed to be for all Eritreans, although i think it should be for the public, more money & inclusivity, right? being Africans, we have large communities & families. So when we have an issue in this case pro government & pro democracy, we’re devided because some can’t see the real enemy or are in constant denial, which is heart breaking. So the pro democracy would attend the festivals hoping to speak some sense into what’s going on right then & their at the festival. Instead of being heard or just simply escorted, they were met with violence when the attendees now known as militia groups Fourth Front or 4G, Eri-Blood, Walta Hager, Shabia just to name a few attacked them. The pro-gov. militia groups used folding chairs, tent poles, knives, & guns to attack & hurt the pro- democracy attendees. This is an event open to all Eritreans that have women & children present. They went in peace because we’re family or know each other. Our country/people have been suffering for 32 years to avoid such division. But what resulted was world leaders looking the other way & diasporas living in fear & unable to escape the totalitarian government of Dictator Isaias Afworki & his regime HGDEF/YPGDJ even after fleeing their home, leaving everything they know & everyone they love. Countries are failing to protect asylums & now causing fear with all citizens.
Now we have the Blue Revolution or Birged Nihamedo #BNH, protesters fighting for justice & democracy for the voiceless And they have the right to protect themselves too! The countless of Eritreans families disperced, being trafficed for sex/organs, victims of forced disappearance or killed, imprisoned w/o due process, serving indefinite national military service & including underage military service, which is modern day SLAVERY. Families don’t know number of war casualties, can’t mourn or have proper burial , no water, no electricity, no university, no jobs, no hospitals, no religion, church members are arrested….IS THIS NOT WORTH FIGHTING FOR?
Eritreans or Africans suffer for decades. Look at Ukrain & Palestine? How long did they wait before people were hearing their cries & running to their aid? But with African we have to be compliant, why?
So to answer your question #BNH is a peaceful protest who are using laws to prove their case but are ending up having to protect themselves against attacks from pro-government militia group. Such as the case in Tel-a viv, Isreal where pro-gov. had a meeting behind the Eritrean embassy wearing red shirt then came out with weapons & immediately attacked peaceful protestors #BNH. Just like the Hague incident but this time they learned $ didn’t have a shirt to identify them & some could pose as #BNH wearing a blue shirt even carry the blue flag “Meley”. Meley is Eritrean true flag chiding by the people long before the self elected dictator sat in power and presented the world with this bloody flag that represents Eritrea now. FYI. I hope this clears things. And I know all about Holocaust. “Injustice Anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.