The anti- and pro-Eritrean regime protesters have come head-to-head in Tel Aviv, but what is the conflict about?
Hundreds of protesters showed up in protest against an Eritrean government-sponsored cultural event to be held later Saturday in South Tel Aviv, turning violent as refugees and police clashed, sending scores of people to at least four different hospitals across Tel Aviv for immediate treatment.
Saturday’s events are not limited to Israel. Last month, the Eritrean government sponsored a series of events to mark 30 years of independence from Ethiopia in the form of festivals held throughout North America and Europe. This has led to a series of attacks by expellees. The Eritrean government simply brushed the incidents off and dismissed them, referring to them as “asylum scum.”
Israel is home to some 30,000 refugees, around 90% of which are seeking asylum from Eritrea or Sudan. Of those thousands, less than 1% of those refugees are recognized by the state of Israel, contributing to one of the lowest refugee acceptance rates in the western world. This is still despite the nation ratifying the United Nations Refugee Convention of 1951 and its Protocols of 1964.The North Korea of Africa
Eritreans make up the majority of Israel’s population of African asylum-seekers, fleeing from a nation referred to as the “North Korea of Africa,” for reasons beyond the dictatorship of 77-year-old President Isaias Afwerki, who has been in power since 1993. The nation boasts obligatory (forced) military enlistment, listed as slavery-like conditions by the United Nations Human Rights Council, Amnesty International, and other human rights groups.
Afwerki took power as Eritrea gained independence from neighboring Ethiopia – another nation whose refugees have found themselves in Israel – Eritrea immediately became a place that people could not come-and-go as they pleased. In addition to no free media nor free elections, the nation requires exit visas for anyone wishing to leave the country.
Even if they had something to help them leave the country, they would not actually be able to without a visa to do so. With forced military service that has no end date, staying in the country does not provide any resident with good options and puts people into a modern-day slavery situation.
It is also important to note that being an Eritrean refugee does not automatically make a person anti-regime. Though many are, there are a handful of refugees from Eritrea who, due to their support of the government would not qualify for refugee status according to the United Nations Human Rights Convention, it’s all the same in the eyes of Israeli authorities.
