Eritrea: Young People in Adi Keyih Continue their Resistance to the Regime’s Demolition Squad

(Adi Keyih, Eritrea 11-03-2015) Arbi harnet (Freedom Friday) has tonight confirmed young people in the city of Adi Keyih 109.7 KM south of Eritrea’s capital Asmara, spent the whole day resisting bulldozers driven into the city to demolish recently built residential homes in the areas known as Deshi Milla and Kambo police.

The bulldozers accompanied by Eritrean armed forces stood idle as municipality officials went from house to house telling people to remove the corrugated iron roofs, doors and windows from homes that have been marked for demolition. 

Despite the fact that the Eritrean regime has been conducting a ruthless campaign of demolition targeting recently built houses in residential areas across the country, to date no official written explanation has been given to owners of the properties demolished. So far many houses costing millions of Eritrean Nakfas have been demolished in several neighborhoods in Asmara and many more are said to be marked for demolition in the near future.

Today’s demolition attempt  in Adi Keyih is the second such attempt following last week’s incidence where young people from the local high school mounted a formidable resistance that led to the plan being aborted.

Tonight the city is said to be tense and land phone lines are only working intermittently while it is almost impossible to get through on mobile phones.

Last night Freedom Friday (Arbi Harnet) sent thousands of recorded messages of solidarity to all landlines and many mobile phones encouraging young people to remain resolute in their resistance and commending them for their exemplary solidarity.