Update from the Arbi Harnet (Freedom Friday) Network

(Akria 02-11-2017) Following the protests in Asmara on Tuesday, and particularly the pandemonium of the shootings by government soldiers, Akria was relatively calm today.

This afternoon some of the students,  and a few women,  who were taken to prison in connection with the uprising, have been released.

So far in Akria we have counted 5 students and 3 mothers who have been freed.

The condition of their release was that under no circumstances were they to talk about their experiences in prison, or the interrogations they faced.

However, people are refusing to obey these orders and are discussing their experiences.

In the area customarily known as Taseda Tsrgia a young student in the 10^th grade told us that when he was detained they took him to the police station at Asmara Expo. He was interrogated and asked to name the organisers of the march.

He was doused in freezing water repeatedly and beaten up with belts.

Today the security officers quietly reopened the school, after realising that the matter had received international attention.

They removed the uniformed, armed, officers and have replaced them with two armed police officers outside the school.

However residents have noticed that there is a huge presence of armed under-cover security people swarming around the area.

The intelligence unit has adopted a cover tactic of quietly approaching people they want for questioning and asking them to report to the local administration office, instead of raiding houses and arresting people.

Having said this, those who did as they were instructed have been taken to undisclosed locations from the local administration offices.

This afternoon alone from a single neighbourhood, known as Riga Somal, two individuals, Mr AbdelKader Ahmed and Mr Negash Beyan were called in and have now disappeared.

In a related news we have also heard that General Philipos has ordered the arrest of high ranking officers, who were coordinating the government response on Tuesday, for not shooting directly at protestors, but instead shooting into the air.

Team Arbi Harnet in Asmara would like to take this opportunity to thank all those humane officers who chose not to shoot at us, their brothers and sisters.

Finally, we are aware that as always the government is trying to make this into a sectarian movement.

We notice that some are buying into that propaganda. This is unfortunate.

Our movement is against the unjust moves of the government, and against subjugation, and although it started in the school the entire district of Akria has joined in.

We are certain that our struggle for justice will succeed and so we call on all our people inside the country and in the diaspora to join us.

Project Arbi Harnet in Asmara

I have received this from a contact working through the ‘Freedom Friday’ network.

Martin

Activists from yesterday’s protest are sending a call for national unity against PFDJ actions against religious schools.

In an impassioned appeal for unity across all faiths the activists stated:

“Unsurprisingly the regime is attempting to taint this as a religious move aimed at asserting Moslem dominance in the country.

However neither the actions of the government in closing religious schools not the actions yesterday were about one religious group.

There were Christians protestors on the streets yesterday and some are actually in prison alongside their Moslem brothers.

Yesterday at the mosque we made it clear that our issues are issues of freedom and liberty and not confined to religion or one religious group.

In fact what must be clear is that the schools shut include the Catholic school in at the Cathedral as well as the Orthodox school at Enda Mariam.

We are all victims of the same persecution and yesterday we stood up against them together.

We appeal to all our brothers and sisters to continue to stand in solidarity and reject any attempts to divide and paly us against each other.”

Arbi Harnet [Freedom Friday] commends the unity with which Eritreans across the globe have stood up to PFDJ yesterday and appeals for on-going unity as we stand in solidarity with our people  inside Eritrea.

Source=https://martinplaut.wordpress.com/2017/11/01/eritrea-protest-update-defiance-and-calls-for-unity/