Eritrean protestors claim Met ‘siding with brutal regime’ by arresting opponents

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter

Eritrean pro-democracy activists have spoken out after police arrested 44 people over violence at an anti-government demonstration outside a South London theatre last year.

Campaigners, who oppose the dictatorship of the East African country’s President Isaias Afwerki, said they were frustrated at being left vulnerable to threats and intimidation from supporters of the regime in the UK.

Earlier in May, the Met released a statement criticising protestors for attacking officers during the disturbance outside the Lighthouse Theatre in Camberwell, on December 30, last year.

The Met said a crowd of more than 100 people gathered outside the theatre, where a pro-Eritrean government event was allegedly taking place, and pelted police with missiles.

A number of officers required hospital treatment for injuries sustained during the incident. Detective Superintendent Sian Thomas described the violence as among  the ‘worst’ they had ever seen.

Arsema Daniel, chairwoman of the Working Together group – a collection of eight Eritrean opposition organisations – said protestors felt police had sided with supporters of the East African government during the incident.

Ms Daniel said: “[Among Eritrean asylum seekers], there’s a feeling of a lack of protection. They come to this country for safety, to be able to work, to get education and do it in a way they don’t have to look over their shoulders. But even here, in the diaspora, they’re fearful for their lives and their safety because of these pro-regime supporters and then you’ve got the police supporting them, [that’s what] it looked like on the day.

“There’s laws and there’s rules you need to stick to in this country and I think the vast majority of us do know and understand that. But it’s hard when there’s so many raw emotions involved to follow through and then you’re getting provoked by regime supporters on the other side.”

Mehari Measho, one of the anti-regime protestors who attended the demonstration in December, said: “No one came to fight with the police. We support the police. The young people there were frustrated and that’s what created the situation. The regime has started to make young people nervous.”

Ms Daniel added that the Eritrean opposition had succeeded in cancelling nine pro-government events in the UK over the last few years. But she said that recently the Eritrean embassy had changed tactics, only releasing the location of events at the last minute or suggesting there would be events in multiple cities across the UK on the same day in a bid to disperse protestors.

Eritrea has been ruled by President Isaias Afwerki since it gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993. The country’s Parliament hasn’t met since 2002 and there is no independent media. Hundreds of people have been arrested and remain in detention for belonging to unrecognised religious groups.

Eritreans are conscripted into indefinite military service, including forced labour, which Amnesty International has said sometimes amounts to slavery.

The UN has found evidence of children being recruited into the military during conscription drives. Perceived opponents of the regime have been rounded up and held by the Government for, in some instances, decades, without access to legal representation or family visits.

On May 17, the Met said it was looking to identify five people about the violence in December last year.

The Eritrean embassy was contacted for comment but didn’t reply.

Pictured top: Mehari Measho, who said tensions were high in the Eritrean community (Picture: Mehari Measho)