Eritrea Festival in Gießen: protesters clashed with officials.
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As feared, riots broke out at the Eritrea Festival. The Greens want daycare centers, climate protection and new apartments. And the “Volk im Schloss” comes in a slimmed-down version. The F.A.Z. Hauptwache takes a look at the topics of the day.
Good evening, the weekend in three words? Way too hot! Lest your tempers heat up with the reader of this news:
Marie Lisa Kehler
Deputy head of the regional section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
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Escalation with announcement: Anyone who followed the news this weekend may have stumbled across pictures, videos and articles that showed violent riots on the sidelines of a previously highly controversial Eritrea festival in Giessen. What was seen in the posts is alarming. Young men attacking police officers, car chases, throwing stones. The comments that can be found below the posts give no less cause for concern. But what exactly happened in Giessen? Critics of the Eritrea Festival, mostly Eritreans as well, tried to get onto the festival site on Saturday. 28 officers were injured in the operation, some so badly that they had to be treated in the surrounding hospitals. All could be released on Sunday. The festival is organized by the Central Council of Eritreans in Germany. This is considered controversial because of its proximity to the regime in the East African country, which is why voices against the event have repeatedly been raised in the past. Violent riots broke out at a similar event in 2022. The city of Gießen had therefore tried to have the festival banned, but failed after a ruling by the Hessian Administrative Court (VGH). Our author Thorsten Winter followed and summarized what happened over the weekend. He classifies why the escalation did not come as a surprise, but with an announcement.