Eritrea: Vigorous Anti PFDJ Protests Led to the Cancellation of the Annual YPFDJ Conference in the Netherlands

Vigorous Anti PFDJ Protests Led to the Cancellation of the Annual YPFDJ Conference in the Netherlands

(Veldhoven 14-04-2017) Eritrean Justice Seekers have just called off a large protest against  YPFDJ meeting in the small Dutch town of Velhdhoven planned for tomorrow. The announcement came following the cancellation of the event by the municipality yesterday, a decision that was this afternoon upheld by a court.

Following months of secrecy the venue of the event was made public, by the municipality earlier in the week and official communication from the Dutch Government stated their discomfort regarding the meeting. Although the municipality shared these concerns, it was felt there wasn’t enough grounds to ban the conference at the time.

However on Thursday afternoon a large group of Eritreans blocked the entrance to the venue and started storming cars that attempted to break the blockade preventing many from entering the Centre. The situation leading police to arrest over a hundred of the protesters and concluding that public order could no longer be guaranteed under the circumstances.  This led the Mayor of Veldhoven to ban the meeting. The banning was resisted by the organisers of the conference, who made an emergency court appeal at Dan Bosch where the case was heard this afternoon.

However the court upheld the decision of the Mayor and ordered the conference centre to be vacated by 20:00 this evening.

Speaking on behalf of the Coordinating -Group of the protest, Mr Kubrom Dafla tonight expressed his appreciation of all participants and all those who worked tirelessly to uphold justice. He called the planned rally for tomorrow off and declared the conclusion of the successful campaign.