Eritrean musician’s concert turns into a riot; Police attacked

A concert event featuring an Eritrean singer devolved into violence early Sunday morning after dozens of people tried to force their way into the venue without a ticket. Police were asked to assist security at the Tilburg venue on Zevenheuvelenweg. When police joined the call to put an early end to the concert, attendees began throwing rocks at police.

Calls were placed to emergency services at about 12:40 a.m., police said. Though 150 people had bought tickets to the venue, roughly 100 more worked their way inside. Surveillance teams were dispatched to assess the situation with those responsible for organizing the performance.

“The owner and security were worried it would get out of hand,” police said. “Indeed, there appeared to be an excessive influx of people and the situation was grim, especially towards the police.”

The owner of the venue, on-site security, and responding officers jointly decided to end the performance and ordered the patrons out of the venue. “The disgruntled visitors reacted very aggressively towards the police. At one point, stones were thrown at the officers and a taillight of a police car was smashed,” police claimed.

According to Omroep Brabant, about 20 police cars arrived, including canine units. The officers and dogs took took their positions and began charging the restless crowd until order was restored, police said.

No details were released about the number of arrests. It was not clear if there were any injuries.