The organizer is the association »Central Council of Eritreans«. In a press release, he said the festival was "a cultural event celebrating Eritrean culture and traditions." 2,500 visitors are expected in the Hessenhallen this Saturday and tomorrow Sunday. The opponents, who will take to the streets on Friday and also this Saturday, criticize the festival as a “propaganda event of a dictatorship.”
Both sides face each other irreconcilably. It seems as if there is a rift going through the generations. It is mainly young men who are expressing their displeasure with Eritrea's long-term ruler Isayas Afewerki. They call him "Africa's Putin" or a "criminal dictator" who "belongs in a cell." They tell their stories on the way via Bahnhofstrasse, Westanlage and Rodheimer Strasse to Schlachthofstrasse. Those who celebrated at the festival came to Germany more than 30 years ago and did not have to flee through the desert and across the sea. "Our brothers and sisters are now drowning in the Mediterranean," shouts one speaker. And in Gießen the dictatorship is being celebrated, from which people wanted to flee. Kiros calls on the city society for solidarity.
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