What was the festival about?
The festival, Festival Eritrea Scandinavia, showcases Eritrean culture with food, seminars, music, a children's area, as well as a "youth program", and is, according to an article in Aftonbladet by author Eyassu Tesfay, who took part in the festival last year, a child-friendly festival which "creates belonging for people who are linked by their history".
Critics of the festival, however, say that it is supported by and promotes the Eritrean government.
It has also been reported that the Eritrean regime has earned millions of kronor from the festival, something which Alem Teklegiorgis, spokesperson for NHCC, the organisation behind the festival, denied in an interview with local newspaper Nyhetsbyrån Järva in 2022.
The festival, which has been held on Eggeby Gård in the Stockholm suburb of Järva since the 90s, was cancelled by the organisation who run Eggeby Gård last year, explaining in a statement that they found out that there would be "speakers [at the festival] which do not live up to the requirements we have concerning democracy and equality".
YPFDJ Sverige, a youth organisation in Sweden linked to the only political party permitted in Eritrea, the PFDJ, regularly features at the festival.
According to Sweden's public broadcaster SVT, Yemane Gebreab, a politician described as the right hand man of Isaias Afwerki, Eritrea's dictator, was invited to attend.
“This is not a festival, they are teaching their children hate speech,” one protester against the festival, Michael Kobrab, told Swedish broadcaster TV4 on Thursday.
One of the people attending the festival, Emanuel Asmalash, told TV4 that the protesters were "terrorists" from Ethiopia, AP reports.
Campaigners for the freedom of Swedish-Eritrean journalist and playwright Dawit Isaak, who has has been imprisoned in Eritrea since 2001 without trial, have also protested against the festival in the past.
What's wrong with having links to the Eritrean regime?
Eritrea is a one-party state and totalitarian dictatorship. President Afwerki has been in power since the country gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993.
In The Economist's Democracy Index for 2022, Eritrea was ranked 152 of 167 countries. Afwerki is also responsible for crimes against humanity, according to a UN report in June 2016, and he has never held an election.
In the 2023 Press Freedom Index, Eritrea ranked 174 out of 180 countries, there are no independent media outlets, and journalists have either fled the country or are in prison.
There are believed to be at least another 10,000 political prisoners detained in the country, including Isaak, whose case the Swedish media has kept in the public eye for 22 years.
The regime also requires all citizens to pay 2 percent of their income back to Eritrea in tax each year to finance the regime, whether they live in Eritrea or abroad.
Which groups were involved on Thursday?
It's not entirely clear, but at the heart of the riots is a conflict between pro-regime festival-goers and anti-regime protesters who had successfully applied to protest against the festival. Some anti-regime protesters had travelled to Sweden from abroad specifically to demonstrate against the festival, and others were stopped at the border.
The problem started when counter-demonstrators broke through the protective barrier police had erected around the festival, and began vandalising the tents.
"The police are at the scene to break up these criminal acts. This is about people who have chosen not to follow the instructions police have given them," Towe Hägg, a police spokesperson, told the TT newswire on Thursday.
The two groups clashed during their respective gatherings, which one witness described to public broadcasters SVT as "total anarchy".
"Emotions were high from the start," police press spokesperson Daniel Wikdahl told TT newswire. "A fence was torn down quite early and people left the designated area of their public gathering."
On Monday, police withdrew permission from the group demonstrating against the festival, which is due to continue until August 6th, due to concerns that rioting could resume.
What have Swedish officials said about the riots?
"It is unreasonable that Sweden is drawn into the domestic conflicts in other countries in this manner," Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer told the TT newswire. "If you are seeking refuge in Sweden from violence, or if you are on a temporary visit, you should not commit violent acts here. The police's resources are needed for other things than holding different groups apart from each other."
How many Eritreans are there in Sweden?
According to official figures from Statistics Sweden, there were just over 20,600 men with Eritrean citizenship living in Sweden in 2022, with the number of women with Eritrean citizenship slightly lower at 15,657.
This figure does not include Eritrean citizens who also have Swedish citizenship, or those with Eritrean heritage who do not hold Eritrean citizenship.
To put that into context, there were 470,933 men without Swedish citizenship living in Sweden in 2022, and 394,323 women.
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