Previous clashes in Bergen and Kristiansand have ended in fights and the use of tear gas.
On Saturday 2 September 2023, Eritreans in Bergen marked the country’s liberation from Ethiopia after a civil war. Eritrea became independent in 1993.
Since then, Eritrea has been ruled by a highly authoritarian, left-wing regime under President Isaias Afwerki.
In Norway, paradoxically enough, “refugees” have arrived both from groups that support the regime and from those who are actually in opposition. Those loyal to the regime are, in a sense, “sent” and planted abroad. Mainly for two reasons. One is to collect money that is sent to the regime and the home country, and the other is to spy on and keep control of regime opponents.
– The first Eritreans who came to Norway right after the war of liberation see Afwerki as a hero, the second part who came afterwards see him as the opposite, NUPI researcher Morten Bøås has stated.
In Bergen in 2023, Eritreans loyal to the regime were supposed to hold a party, while Eritreans critical of the regime came to demonstrate. It ended in fights.
The same thing happened in Kristiansand in November. Then there was supposed to be a party held by those loyal to the regime, and Eritreans from the south-east country came to the city to protest. It ended with the police having to use tear gas.
Similar episodes have also occurred in several other countries, such as Sweden, Israel and Canada.
After the riots in Bergen, Kjetil Tronvoll, professor of peace and conflict studies at Oslo Nye Høyskole, said that it was probably “just the beginning of more confrontations between Eritreans in Norway and elsewhere”.
– This is a strategy to be seen and heard. How are you seen by the politicians? Yes, you are seen when you appear in the media – when you are active and demonstrative and violent, said Tronvoll.
Now the police in Oslo fear that the situation could also escalate in Oslo on Friday. Eritreans who are critical of the regime have then been given permission to demonstrate in Eidsvolls plass outside the Storting from 9am-11am. They support the measures against transnational oppression.
And from 11 o’clock the regime-loyal Eritreans then take over Eidsvoll’s place. They believe that the representative proposal against transnational oppression involves “harassment of Norwegian-Eritreans”.
In March, the Storting’s Local Government and Administration Committee finalized the proposal for the representative proposal from the Liberal Party to combat so-called “transnational oppression” of Eritreans in Norway.
The committee had received more than six hundred written submissions, most of them from anonymous Norwegian-Eritreans. “Many of these are not safe in Norway, because the regime exerts pressure and control across national borders. It’s called transnational oppression,” wrote Utrop.
Eritreans in Norway must, among other things, pay two percent income tax to the regime in their home country. Parties are used as fundraising and Eritrean Orthodox churches that receive state subsidies in Norway pressure members through exclusion.
Sources in the police tell iNyheter that large police resources have been put on alert before Friday in view of what has happened previously. It is feared that the demonstrators will bark together.
iNyheter has also approached the Oslo police district’s press contact with questions about what kind of preparedness they have, and what is being done to separate the groups and keep the public safe.
At 3 pm we will get an answer.
– We are following developments and will implement the measures we deem necessary, writes Chief of Staff Harald Nilssen at the Oslo Police District in an email
He further writes that they “have a dialogue with the organizer and the police will help ensure that the event is carried out in a safe manner.”
– How will you try to keep the two groups separate?
– Among other things, we have a dialogue with the organisersreplies Nilssen
He writes that the police have “zero tolerance for the use of violence, and do not accept street fights and disturbances as we have seen from other cities.”
– We are prepared to act quickly if unwanted situations arise related to the event, concludes the chief of staff.
