A gang of between 20 to 30 young men, described by police as being “predominantly migrants”, attacked local Germans as well as employees at the train station in the city of Gelsenkirchen over the weekend.

The incident took place on Saturday night with the gang of mostly migrant youths, who were identified as such by employees of the tram company Bogestra who are themselves of migrant background, attacking passengers at the metro station, emptying fire extinguishers and causing havoc, Focus reports.

Several employees of the tram company were also struck with stones by the gang and quickly called the police, who were only able to arrest three members of the gang as the rest of the youths involved had fled the scene by the time they arrived.

The area around the central station in Gelsenkirchen has become a security issue according to police, who also arrested another man on the same night, already wanted for a separate crime, near the station.

The suspect attempted to flee the officers, forcing both he and an officer through a glass window and causing both men to require hospitalisation.

Twelve Germans Beaten In Random Attack By Asylum Seeker Mob https://t.co/eJnoGqlzqO — Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) January 3, 2019

Federal police say that the area has been a source of trouble for the past three years or so and that problems often arise when one “youth” is detained with others using their smartphones to call up friends and form a mob. “In no time, we face a larger group that is hindering our operations,” a federal police spokesman said.

According to a report in 2016, Lebanese gangs operating in several cities in the North Rhine-Westphalia region had turned neighbourhoods in several cities, including Gelsenkirchen, into virtual no-go areas for police and violence against police had dramatically increased in the areas.

Railway stations and their surrounding areas have also been a prominent location for migrant delinquents across Germany and in neighbouring countries like Austria, where police have banned the sale of alcohol in the Prater area in Vienna where there have been multiple acts of violence, including a brutal rape committed by an Afghan migrant in early 2016, in an effort to calm the area.