"With a roaring noise, the yellow excavator razes the last remains of another derelict property in the Bismarck district of Gelsenkirchen to the ground. An entire street with seven houses is being flattened to make way for new houses and a kindergarten. The dilapidated properties and piles of rubbish in the street were not only a huge nuisance for local residents, but also a big campaign issue for the far-right populist Alternative for Germany (AfD)which linked it to labor migration from Southeast Europe."
"Criminals lured people, mainly from Romania and Bulgaria, to Bismarck using a mafia-like system of exploitation, housed them in dilapidated buildings in sometimes catastrophic conditions without electricity or water, offered them part-time jobs, and also collected their welfare checks. The city, where one in four people live on social welfare, has purchased dozens of the dilapidated houses and is now having them demolished."
Excavators are demolishing a row of seven derelict houses in the Bismarck district of Gelsenkirchen to make way for new housing and a kindergarten. Dilapidated properties and piles of rubbish created a major nuisance for residents and became a campaign issue linked by the AfD to labor migration from Southeast Europe. Criminal networks lured mainly Romanian and Bulgarian people into the area, exploited them in squalid buildings without basic utilities, offered part-time work and collected welfare payments. The city purchased dozens of the rundown houses and began demolitions amid deep local frustration and rising far-right support.
Read at www.dw.com
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