The video of an attack by very young perpetrators on a teenager draws attention to Gera. Residents are worried about coexistence in the affected district.
The video has caused horror across the country and also caused people in Gera to shake their heads: Several young people beat up a boy who was sitting on a park bench and only held his arms in front of his face to protect himself. The four main perpetrators are 12 and 13 years old. The group, which is said to have 20 participants in total, filmed the crime, which later ended up on the Internet. But it could only show part of the truth, suspect residents in the Gera district of Bieblach, where the crime took place last week.
A caretaker and a local resident said in an interview with FOCUS online that they recognized the victim in the video. The boy often goes out with a friend: “These two kids are not bad either,” the caretaker noted. The violence against the 14-year-old is in no way justified. However, he has also attracted negative attention in the past.
The man who was attacked recently threw a stone at an elderly man and missed him – the window on the front door was shattered as a result, says the resident. He and a friend had also asked her for a cigarette in a supermarket, and then tried to steal her handbag. The youth threw a bottle at another man’s back. “I’m getting out of his way,” says the resident clearly.
What exactly led to the attack is still the subject of investigation. The police suspect that rivalry between different nationalities could be the cause – the attackers were Syrian and Afghan youths, the victim is German.
A police report from mid-June also fits in with this: four German youths were attacked by three youths of Syrian and Iranian nationality. Does Gera have a bigger problem with juvenile delinquency? “We are aware of other incidents and are examining the connections,” said a spokesperson when asked by FOCUS online. In addition to the investigations, the priority now is the educational and preventive work of the youth station in order to have a holistic impact on the children.
For a group of caretakers in Bieblach, this confirms once again what they have been thinking for a long time: coexistence between different nations does not work here. “It is getting even worse now because the Ukrainians are coming,” one suspects. Since 2015, more and more refugees have moved into the neighborhood and the problems have increased. “The police and the public order office are often here,” says another caretaker.
Many of the immigrants have now settled in well, working in logistics, for example. The resident mentioned at the beginning also stressed that she has a good relationship with residents of different nationalities in her building. But the problem cases overshadow the overall picture. Only in March, two suspected IS members were arrested in Gera on suspicion of planning attacks.
Now they are talking about rumors that youth gangs have formed and are “marking out” areas for themselves. “This is definitely not an isolated incident,” says one of the caretakers about the latest attack, adding: “If this were my son, I would go crazy.”
A property manager says that security services have already been hired for some of the quarters, although not around the clock. “The problem is that many only stay for one or two years,” he says of the asylum seekers who have moved here. Gera simply does not offer the structure and job opportunities that big cities do. “We try to help, but that is a political problem. Living together is not easy and I don’t know whether it will work out,” he says, worried about the quarter.
A resident, a native of Afghanistan, also sees the structural weakness as a factor. “It’s a forgotten corner,” he says of the district. One street is home to mainly Germans with low incomes, while the next is home to foreigners who would actually prefer to move to the big city. “It’s good that Amazon has settled here,” he says, referring to a positive development through the newly created jobs, which are attractive to many refugees. But there isn’t much outside of that. “Gera has few opportunities to get a foothold. That’s why many people move on.” But the video, the brutal violence, shocked him. He otherwise finds the neighborhood to be rather quiet.