Arrests Pending After Violent Brawl in Calgary Between Eritrean Factions

Two groups armed with rocks and sticks faced off in quiet northeast neighbourhood

A member of the Toronto Police Service instructs a protestor in opposition to the Eritrean government to move back during a protest Toronto on Sept. 2, 2023. The Canadian Press/Spencer Colby

Calgary on Sept. 2 was scene to another violent brawl between rival Eritrean factions that have escalated outside the East African nation’s borders in recent months, and police say arrests are pending.

The conflict took place in the city’s northeast neighbourhood of Falconridge at around 5 p.m. local time. The Calgary Police Service (CPS) responded to reports of two groups engaged in violence.

According to a Sept. 2 police statement, up to 150 people were initially involved and many of the individuals were brandishing weapons.

A video posted by a witness on Sept. 3 showed men throwing rocks, armed with long sticks and bats, some wearing white shirts bearing the current Eritrean flag, others wearing blue T-shirts. Those wearing blue displayed the former Eritrean flag, in light blue featuring a green olive wreath encircling a green six-leafed plant, as seen in CTV News reporting.

Police arrived soon after the fight began, with some officers on horseback.

At a press conference the next day, CPS spokesperson Bennett Cliff O'Brien said there were a number of injuries and police believe at least 10 people were sent to hospital.

“These are groups of individuals that came here with the intent of causing or being involved in a confrontation and causing violence to each other,“ he said. ”We know that at least some of the groups were stashing weapons or people in the groups were stashing weapons well before this took place. So this is super troubling.”

Mr. O'Brien said those involved in the clash did not listen to police.

“This is a group that was actively trying to assault the police officers as well as each other, and was not listening.”

The level of premeditation involved was “serious,” added Mr. O‘Brien, who said detectives are investigating and he has “every confidence that there’ll be multiple people arrested.”

‘Groups With Opposing Views’

Mian Wahid, a witness to the violent altercation, told CTV News that one group of men carrying long sticks “rushed towards the other side.”

“It was looking like they were going there to attack some other people or some other group,” said the witness.

Another witness said people were coming out of their cars with two-by-four pieces of wood and pipes and told him they were “protesting the dictatorship in Eritrea.” He later described the scene as “all hell was breaking loose with the cops.”

“The CPS considers this to be a serious event and has dedicated resources to keep the peace,” the police said in its Sept. 2 statement. “This is not a protest. This is a violent conflict between two groups with opposing views.”

Police issued an alert on X, formerly known as Twitter, that evening advising residents to avoid the area and saying various roads are closed there because of the conflict.

The CPS statement said police are continuing to actively investigate “all associated criminal activity including violence and property damage.”

Political Dispute

Similar clashes have occurred in other cities in Canada, including Edmonton and Toronto in August, while local Eritrean communities are holding festival events, Calgary Herald reported.

Eritrea is a small nation in East Africa that has had the same president since the country gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993. Isaias Afwerki, age 77, has not held an election for 30 years, and citizens of the country facing forced military conscription have fled, according to Human Rights Watch.

The conflict between the groups is between those who support the former Eritrea and those who believe the current flag represents a dictatorship under Mr. Afwerki.

Some protesters have accused the festival events of raising money for the current regime, while the opposing side has accused Eritrean exiles of instigating the attacks.

A member of the Toronto Police Service instructs a protestor in opposition to the Eritrean government to move back during a protest Toronto on Sept. 2, 2023. The Canadian Press/Spencer Colby

On Aug. 19, the date of an Eritrean-themed event in Edmonton, dozens of police units, with many officers in riot gear, attended to an altercation in the city as two groups faced off, many carrying sticks, CTV News reported. There was a scattering of incidents across the city on the same day during an annual Eritrean community festival.

In Toronto on Aug. 6, police said they arrested three individuals following a protest outside a downtown hotel held by demonstrators opposed to an Eritrean festival. The protest turned aggressive in the evening when some individuals threw water bottles at police officers. The protest and arrest came a day after clashes at a city park where the event was taking place triggered deployment of the police riot squad. Nine people were sent to hospital, and the incident prompted the city to revoke the festival’s permit.

Around the World

In Israel, security forces subdued fights between Eritrean government supporters and opponents in Tel Aviv, the country’s capital, The Associated Press reported. More than 100 individuals were injured in the confrontation involving African asylum-seekers and migrants, which saw Eritreans from both sides facing off with construction lumber, pieces of metal, rocks, and at least one axe in a neighbourhood in south Tel Aviv.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “a red line” had been crossed and promised to deport all African migrants whom he described as “illegal infiltrators.”

Eritrean protesters clash with Israeli riot police in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Sept. 2, 2023. Hundreds of Eritrean asylum-seekers smashed shop windows and police cars in Tel Aviv and clashed with police during a protest against an event organized by the Eritrean Embassy. The Israeli police said 27 officers were injured in the clashes Ohad Zwigenberg/Associated Press

In Sweden in early August, hundreds of people were detained by police after an estimated 1,000 protestors attacked an Eritrea Scandinavia cultural festival being held in Stockholm, Euronews reported. The protesters lit festival booths and cars on fire and used sticks and rocks as weapons, pushing past police maintaining a barricade around the festival.

“It is not reasonable for Sweden to be drawn into other countries’ domestic conflicts in this way,” Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer said at the time.

In another incident that took place in Germany in early July, at least 22 police officers were injured during an Eritrean cultural festival, CNN reported. Police said there were “massive attacks” in the state of Hessen against police officers, saying those involved threw stones and bottles at police and set off smoke bombs.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.