Germany Police Raids Target Eritrean Terror Group

Karl Sexton

The nationwide police operation targeted suspected members of the so-called "Brigade N'hamedu" in Germany. The group is believed to have been responsible for violent riots at Eritrean cultural events.

Police surround a group of people before the start of the Eritrea festival in Giessen. 

The Brigade N'hamedu is believed to have been behind violent incidents at an Eritrean cultural event in Giessen [FILE: July 2023]Image: Helmut Fricke/dpa/picture alliance

Police in Germany carried out a major nationwide raid against opponents of the government in Eritrea on Wednesday.

The operation, which targeted 19 properties in six federal states, is directed against 17 people suspected of being members of so-called "Brigade N'hamedu," which is classified as a domestic terrorist organization, the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office in Karlsruhe said in a statement.

What do we know about the police raid?

Eight of the properties were in Hesse, four were in North Rhine-Westphalia, three were in Bavaria, two were in Baden-Württemberg and there was one each in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Rhineland-Palatinate.

More than 200 police officers were involved in the operation. 

A raid also took place in neighboring Denmark.

No arrests have been made yet, the statement added.

The 17 suspects are alleged to have been founders or members of the German branch of the Brigade N'hamedu, an international network whose stated aim is "the overthrow of the government in Eritrea," the statement said.

Police allege that some members of the group view violence against German state institutions and police and security forces as legitimate.

What are group members accused of?

The Brigade N'hamedu is accused of orchestrating violent riots at an Eritrean cultural festival in the city of Giessen in Hesse in August 2022 and July 2023, as well as an Eritrean association seminar in Stuttgart in September 2023.

Large German police vehicles block a roadLarge German police vehicles block a road

Police respond to violence at an Eritrea festival in the city of Giessen in August 2024Image: Helmut Fricke/dpa/picture alliance

Several police officers were injured in those incidents, some of them seriously, the Federal Prosecutor's Office said.

Another suspect believed to hold a senior role in the Dutch and German chapters of the Brigade N'Hamedu was sentenced to four years in prison.

He was convicted by a Dutch court in September for playing a leading role in riots in the Hague in February 2024, when hundreds of supporters of the Eritrean government held a rally in the center of the Dutch capital city.

Eritrea, a country in the Horn of Africa, fought a war to gain independence from Ethiopia which lasted 30 years until 1991.

The country declared its independence in 1993, with the victorious Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) rebel group seizing power, establishing a one-party, nationalist state and banning all other political activity.

No elections have been held since the country became independent.

Germany is home to over 80,000 Eritrean nationals and people of Eritrean descent, according to the German Foreign Office.