Raids in Germany target 'domestic terrorist' Eritrean protest movement

German police launched raids Wednesday targeting 17 suspected members of an Eritrean diaspora protest movement that prosecutors labeled a "domestic terrorist organization."

Members of the group are suspected of being involved in violent riots at two festivals in Germany.

Searches were carried out at 19 properties in six German states connected to alleged members of the so-called Brigade Nhamedu, prosecutors said. Searches were also carried out in neighboring Denmark, they added.

The suspects are accused of founding or belonging to a "domestic terrorist organization" and are all thought to have assumed "leading roles" in Germany for the protest group.

Federal prosecutors said Brigade Nhamedu is "an internationally networked group whose stated goal is to overthrow the government in Eritrea."

The German branch of the group has been active since at least 2022 and has participated in "acts of violence against events supported by the Eritrean government," they said. 

In July 2022, 26 police officers were injured and more than 100 people were arrested after clashes at an Eritrean music festival in the town of Giessen, near Frankfurt.

In September 2023, 228 people were arrested after scuffling with law enforcement at an event organized by backers of the Eritrean government in the southern city of Stuttgart.

Thirty-two people were injured in the clashes, including 26 police officers who were attacked with bats, metal rods, bottles and stones.

In September, a suspected senior member of Brigade Nhamedu in the Netherlands and Germany was jailed for several years for his involvement in riots in The Hague in February 2024.

Eritrea broke away from Ethiopia in May 1991 and formally declared independence in May 1993.