BERLIN (AP) – Police were executing raids in six German states Wednesday against a group that authorities say “is part of an international network whose aim is to overthrow the government in Eritrea.”
Germany’s federal prosecutor´s office is accusing 17 suspects of founding or being members of the German branch of Brigade N´Hamedu, which it defines as a terrorist organization.
The prosecutors said the investigations “suggest that the suspects assumed senior positions” within the group. The German offshoot has been active since at least 2022 was involved in violence at events connected to the Eritrean government.
The office said the organization coordinated violent riots at the so-called Eritrea festivals in Giessen on 20 August 2022 and in August 2023 as well as the seminar of an Eritrean association in Stuttgart in September 2023. Numerous police officers were injured at both events, some of them seriously.
Prosecutors also say that some members of the association considered violence against German state institutions and police officers to be legitimate.
More than 200 federal and state police officers searched a total of 19 properties – eight in Hesse, four in North Rhine-Westphalia, three in Bavaria, two in Baden-Württemberg and one each in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Rhineland-Palatinate. Another search took place in Denmark at the same time, dpa reported. No arrests have been made.
The prosecutor’s statement also noted that another person “who is suspected of holding a senior position within `Brigade N´Hamedu´ in the Netherlands and Germany, has recently been sentenced by a Dutch court to a prison term of several years on account of his participation in clashes in The Hague” last February.
The prosecutor’s office did not identify any of the accused by name, in line with German privacy rules.
Eritrea is one of the world´s most repressive countries, and exiles have attacked several festivals held by Eritrea´s diaspora in Europe and North America in recent years.
Some of the people who fled the Horn of Africa nation say the violence against the festivals are protests against the government back home. Some have alleged that proceeds from festivals might support the government.
Hundreds of thousands of people have fled Eritrea over the years, many setting off into the deserts of Sudan and then North Africa in attempts to reach Europe.
Read the full article here