A 20-year-old man was severely beaten by a group of seven young men in Berlin’s troubled Alexanderplatz area after he tried to defend a 14-year-old girl from harassment.
On Wednesday evening, the 20-year-old noticed an 18-year-old attempting to get the number of a 14-year-old girl in the vicinity of the Alexanderplatz metro. When the man saw the young girl wanted nothing to do with the 18-year-old he intervened, but was set upon by the teen and six of his friends who beat him, Die Welt reports.
The gang fled the scene but two of them, both under 18, were arrested at the nearby metro station. The 20-year-old was taken to hospital but was discharged with only minor injuries.
The violent incident is just the latest at Alexanderplatz, which some have said is turning into a no-go zone due to the frequent violence and high level of crime from primarily migrant youth gangs.
Over the weekend, there were a number of other violent incidents in the area including a brawl between two groups of young men. Police who arrived on the scene were attacked by several of the “youths” including being sprayed with pepper spray.
Authorities arrested several teens and one boy aged only 11 who also participated in the violence.
Last month, there were two knife attacks in the area, one of which involved several older teens attack a 14-year-old boy who was stabbed in the arm, following an argument, and had to be taken to hospital. Three teens were arrested by police in connection with the assault.
While no-go zones in places like the suburbs of Paris and the suburbs of Swedish cities like Stockholm and Gothenburg have existed for years, no-go zones in Germany are relatively new phenomena.
Only this year have members so the German press used the term in their publications. Last month, Die Welt referred to a troubled area in Cologne as a “no-go zone“, though authorities in the country have warned for months of the emergence of areas where German laws are hardly enforced.