Organizers and participants put the number of demonstrators at between 800 and 1,000. Hundreds of them gathered in front of the Eritrean Embassy chanting slogans: “NO TO TYRANNY, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, THE DICTATOR MUST GO.”
After nearly 30 minutes outside the embassy, the procession headed to the State Department shouting and urging swift action against the Asmara regime in support of the cause of the voiceless Eritrean people who have been deprived of liberty and food.
As the peaceful protests continued, a five-member delegation, representing the protestors, held talks with pertinent State Department officials who welcomed the events. The officials expressed willingness for further contacts with all peace and freedom loving Eritrean forces. There are unconfirmed reports that the US is considering imposing more stringent sanctions with the aim of taming the despotic, pariah regime in Asmara.
The key note speaker at the Saturday symposium was Dr. Bereket Habteselassie, the acclaimed scholar and outspoken social activist. He spoke of the urgent need to go beyond factional and confessional divisions and called for a common plan of action to effect regime change thus ending Eritrea’s long night of tyranny.
The conditions in Wi’a concentration/training camp in the past 7- 9 months have worsened more than any other time. Food rations were reduced further to 3 pieces of sorghum bread per person per day without any supplements such as sauce except limited ration of tea. The shortage of food is compounded by the closure of the camp for family visits which used to facilitate the supply of food from families and relatives to the prisoners/trainees. The shortage of food combined with the very poor sanitation conditions, harsh environmental conditions, fatigue resulting from training exercises and almost non-existent health facilities and health care services in the camp has lead to sustained outbreaks of meningitis, typhoid and scabies resulting in alarming mass deaths. 
But the war, and the crisis in its aftermath, radically altered this three-pronged approach. First, the community-oriented feature of the website, although not totally abandoned, came to suffer as a result of the deep fracture within the Eritrean community that took place after the war. Second, Eritrea itself became off limits; and the dream of joining the Eritrean people in building the nation was indefinitely deferred. And third, as a result of the poisoned climate that came to prevail after the war, the idea of a greater community in the Horn and East Africa was abandoned. Instead, as is the case with most Eritreans, the political, humanitarian and existential crisis in Eritrea came to dominate the dialog in Asmarino – a debate that is still raging on. 
