In Germany, conflicts from distant parts of the world are constantly being fought.

The state of Eritrea has not played a role in this so far.

It's different since the weekend.

On Saturday there was violence in Gießen, Hesse, on the sidelines of an Eritrean "cultural festival".

According to the police, around 100 attackers attacked helpers and visitors to the festival with batons, iron bars, knives and stones.

The event was subsequently canceled.

There were 33 injured, including seven police officers.

The situation was only calmed down late in the evening thanks to the action of around 300 officials.

Videos on social networks show young men shouting and throwing stones.

Photos of men covered in blood, especially older men, are also shared.

A police spokesman spoke of “excesses of violence”.

Julian Staib

Political correspondent for Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland based in Wiesbaden.

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The event was advertised with a poster showing the Eritrean "poet" Awel Said - in uniform with the Eritrean flag.

In videos he also appears with a bayonet.

Said is seen by critics of the regime as a propagandist who spreads hatred.

Eritrea is run by an authoritarian military regime that oppresses the population and restricts basic freedoms - reports from human rights organizations detail the crimes.

For example, there is unlimited military service in the country, with the threat of forced labor and torture, travel abroad must be approved, freedom of expression is suppressed, opponents of the regime "disappear".

A large part of the Eritreans is in Hesse

As a result, the number of refugees is high.

The country is among the ten main countries of origin for asylum applications in Germany;

almost all applications are approved.

For a long time, all applications from Eritreans seeking asylum in Germany were processed in the Gießen initial reception facility, which explains why a large part of the Eritreans in this country live in Hesse.

In Giessen, Eritreans are currently the fourth largest group among foreigners.

According to reports from Eritreans in exile, the regime is also spied on and threatened in this country, and there is also talk of violence.

In addition, Eritreans must therefore pay two percent of their income as compulsory tax to the regime, otherwise consular services such as passport extensions or even the repatriation of the deceased will be refused.

Rut Bahta, chair of the board of the diaspora organization United4Eritrea, based in Frankfurt, also describes this.

According to her, the "dictator festival" organized by the unity party in Gießen and other such events serve to collect funds to support the regime and to monitor the Eritreans in exile.

Not everyone within the divided diaspora sees it that way.

Many exiled Eritreans fled in the 1970s and 1980s.

At that time, the current President Isayas Afewerki was considered by some to be a freedom fighter.

Today, on the other hand, it suppresses its own population – and triggers refugee movements again.

In addition, the situation at home has recently worsened since Eritrea's army marched into Tigray in Ethiopia and committed the most serious human rights crimes there and in its own neighboring areas.

All of this may have contributed to fueling the conflict within the diaspora.

The city of Gießen sharply condemned the violence on Saturday.

Many of the attackers traveled from all over Germany, says Giessen's mayor Alexander Wright of the FAZ, apparently it had been "long-term plans" to "storm" the event.

Wright criticizes the police cautiously, saying there were “too few” forces on site.

However, one was surprised by the intensity of the violence.

“The German state is too lax.

He has to be more defensive"

A lawsuit to ban the festival before the Giessen administrative court had previously failed.

Wright says there is a "tight corset" for the authorities about what can and cannot be prohibited.

A concert was registered, but unlike a demonstration, it does not have to be approved.

But the Gießen trade fair has a handle.

This is a private company in Gießen and, according to the city, has been making good money from the event for years.

After the violence, the fair issued a statement saying it was not allowed to make moral choices, and it was not the job of the fair to make political judgments.

You have to "act as a neutral landlord of your rooms".

Wright contradicts: It is not about a party conference, it is rented to an embassy.

Parallel to the riots, there was a demonstration in downtown Giessen on Saturday, which according to Wright remained peaceful.

As in previous years, the city councilor Klaus-Dieter Grothe (Greens), who has been active in refugee aid for 30 years, was also there.

After the festival was canceled, he wrote on social media that it was a "victory of justice".

He did not condemn the violence in the post.

Grothe now apologizes for this, of course the violence is a "disaster".

Grothe demands that the state must intervene much more if foreign regimes become active here.

"If we allow migration, then we must also keep an eye on which conflicts are brought with us." These should not be left to the police and regulatory agencies alone - be it with a view to Turkey or Eritrea.

“The German state is too lax.

He has to be more defensive,” says Grothe.