A successful public demonstration by Seattle Eritreans

About 45 protesters from Seattle WA staged a successful peaceful demonstration outside the Quest field exhibition hall today August 4, 2006 to protest the so called Eritrean festival organize by the Eritrean Embassy the Consulate General in Oakland CA, the regimes functionaries and supporters.

The forty five demonstrators waved both of the old and new Eritrean flags and held same number of different billboards with messages that reflect the human right violations going on in Eritrea. Big loud speakers were mounted, poems and slogans read that went inside the hall were PFDJ functionaries were made so uncomfortable to even venture outside the hall. A veteran of the war of independence, known for his Kirar songs and poems of our culture lead the chanting of the slogans accompanied with his Kirar.

The demonstrators delivered written memorandums explaining why they are staging public demonstration to both Washington State Senators, to the Mayor of Seattle to nine Seattle City Councilmen and Women and to two US House Of Representatives.

The money extorting festival is scheduled to continue and the demonstration protesting it will continue until tomorrow with more demonstrators and louder noises as the demonstrators vowed to come with more energy to become the voice of the voiceless inside our country of origin Eritrea.

We’ll continue to update of tomorrow’s demonstrations.

Bellow is a sample of the memo delivered to all Washington State officials

4 August 2006

Eritrean Americans in Seattle, WA

To        

The Honorable USA Senator

We members of the Eritrean immigrant community residing in the Puget sound area, would like to call to your attention that we are staging a peaceful public demonstration to protest human right violations on our parents and loved ones in the country of our origin Eritrea.

 Our peaceful demonstration will take place today August 4, 2006 in front of Quest Field Exhibition hall Seattle, WA where a festival organized by the Embassy of Eritrea its consulates and its functionaries in many cities including Seattle is taking place.

The Eritrean regime is one of the regimes in the world known as a dysfunctional and human right violator.
This is established by all the known human right advocates, governments and non government institutions.
The European Union, the US State Department, the UN, Africa human right watch group, Amnesty International Reporters without border, and many others have written and recorded the human right abuses, of torture, extra judicial killing and mass detention of its citizens by this regime.
Dear Senator

When the world is worried about the brutal oppression, torture and control by alienation of the people inside our country of origin from the rest of world, functionaries of the regime in Eritrea and their supporters in the Eritrean Consulate in Oakland, CA its Embassy in DC and its ruling party offices in the USA cities continue to harass and intimidate Eritrean Americans into silence in the wake of massive human right violations in Eritrea.

The regime in Eritrea has a system in place to extort and collect money from Eritrean Americans that include, 2% tax forced payments through bonds, Dollar-a-day schemes, illegal money transfers, usurping American community structures and halls to conduct festivals that supported wars and terrorizing our people and region.

The regime in Eritrea is opposed to every thing peaceful existence of human beings, it has become the source of conflict in the region and it is vehemently opposed to interests of democratic world to get rid of terrorism. It is the main supplier of arms to those who are aliened against the interests of the USA.

Honorable Senator

We kindly ask that your office look into the violations of our American laws here in our cities and states by the Eritrean regime functionaries and Consulates, their extortions and intimidations of our citizens. We also ask your support on our efforts to stop the human right violations by the government of Eritrea. 

Thank you very much

Sincerely

Eritrean Americans in Seattle and Surroundings