CALM HAS BEEN restored to the streets of The Hague today after a night of rioting and skirmishes between rival Eritrean groups that saw vehicles set on fire and riot police firing tear gas.
At least six police officers were injured and 13 suspects arrested after the two factions fought running battles on the city’s streets overnight, torching police cars and hurling rocks.
Special police units were deployed to combat the rioters, who police said were pro- and anti-Eritrean government groups attending a meeting in the Dutch city.
“During the riots, stones, fireworks, and other items were thrown at police officers and the fire brigade. Several rioters had weapons to hit people with,” police said.
The rioters set two police cars and a tour bus on fire.
During the disturbances, two officers sustained injuries to their hands and another to her teeth. A fourth was hit by a police car in the chaos.
Police in a later statement said another agent became unwell because of the tear gas, while a sixth officer suffered a wounded knee.
“Out of nowhere, our colleagues were confronted with very intense and serious violence,” said police commander Marielle van Vulpen.
Police have called for witnesses and video footage, as they investigate the riots.
The 13 suspects were all men between 19 and 36 years old, a statement said.
“The violence used against police officers and equipment is appalling and unacceptable,” said the city’s mayor Jan van Zanen.
Anti-immigration far-right leader Geert Wilders posted social media images of the riots with a caption in capital letters: “Arrest and Deport”.
He then wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “The Netherlands has really had it up to here with this.”
“Why is half the world allowed to come here to tear down our country, fight amongst themselves, throw stones at the police and set their cars on fire?”
“I want to become the prime minister who finally brings some order to this,” added Wilders, who won elections in November but is struggling to form a coalition government.
There are some 25,000 Eritreans living in the Netherlands, according to official government figures.
Pro- and anti-government groups have previously clashed, including last year when several people were stabbed ahead of an event to celebrate Eritrean independence from Ethiopia.
Since gaining independence from Ethiopia in 1993, Eritrea has become one of the world’s most closed and repressive states, where citizens are forced into indefinite government service and political dissidents are routinely imprisoned.
Many have fled the country as a result, but particularly during the conflict between Eritrean forces and fighters aligned with the Ethiopian government in the country’s northern Tigray region.
Forced conscription became policy in Eritrea to help replace the fighters lost in the conflict, with reports of people of apparent military age being summarily rounded up and taken to join the fighting.
Includes reporting from AFP
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say