Radio Erena: 09 March 2015
The Eritrean Secret Service has put several residents of the southern town of Adi Keyih in custody.
According to reports from the area, the secret service has previously detained many residents of the town for allegedly using smart phone cameras to record the demolishing operation of a number of residential houses in the town by the government.
The government has deployed police and members of the defense forces and bulldozed 20 residential houses in the localities near Abune Tekle church on the 5th of March. Owners of the torn down houses – mostly women with their children, have protested and police were seen to use forces against the protesters. One kid has been confirmed dead while two other adults have sustained life-threatening wounds by shots opened by the police.
Although the government has redeployed the forces, who have executed the demolition operation to a different area, tension has heightened in the town.
The government has previously put red marks on 120 residential houses at Qudus Giorgis and Decci Mille localities that are set to be torn down and the 20 were among those red marked, confirmed our sources.
Many believe that the government is doing this to those houses built by residents of the town whose children migrated to Israel to earn a living.
To date, the government has bulldozed 400 residential houses in total in the vicinities of the capital Asmara and the town of Adi Keyih.
The government has never published an official statement regarding these operations.
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