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Gangs of men are preventing people from straying into once vibrant areas of the country for fear of violence, and abuse that even law enforcement has been unable to control. There are as many as 40 places named in confidential police reports - despite repeated denials from officers - according to a report by US think-thank Gatestone Institute. In Duisburg, neighbourhoods have been reportedly “divided” by Lebanese gangs who deal drugs, extort businesses and frequently rob. A 17-page report prepared for the NRW State Parliament revealed the extent of the problems.

GETTY German police have been attacked by migrants in some areas of Germany reports suggest

GETTY Officers have been afraid to enter some areas, according to reports

In Berlin or in the north of Duisburg, areas exist where police “hardly dare to stop a car”. Rainer Wendt, President of the German Police Union, said: “Because they know that they'll be surrounded by 40 or 50 men.” Mr Wendt said attacks amount to a "deliberate challenge to the authority of the state - attacks in which the perpetrators are expressing their contempt for our society." German media has been monitoring the situation. Recently, N24 Television described a popular shopping and residential area, Duisburg-Marxloh, where police have become “powerless”. The channel reported: “The descent of the district is nightmarish. Now clans claim the streets for themselves." The pockets of lawlessness have deeply upset communities with some witnesses to the violence claiming the problems are being exacerbated by the German government, which has relocated hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers and refugees into these areas.

GETTY Duisburg has been one of the areas described as a "no-go one" by German media

The report for the NRW State Parliament described the situation in Duisburg's Laar district, claiming the area is run by two Lebanese families. It states: "The streets are actually regarded as a separate territory. Outsiders are physically assaulted, robbed and harassed. Experience shows that the Lebanese clans "can mobilize several hundred people in a very short period of time by means of a telephone call." Peter Biesenbach of the opposition Christian Democrats (CDU) said: "If this is not a no-go area, then I do not know what is." Recently, German paper Bild wrote "Ghetto Report Germany” - a piece describing "burgeoning ghettos, parallel societies and no-go areas” in Germany. The police report leaked to Der Spiegel claimed in Duisburg, spiralling levels of violent crime perpetrated by migrants from the Middle East and the Balkans have turned parts of the city into de facto "no-go zones The report was produced by NRW police headquarters and warns the government is losing control over problem neighbourhoods According to Der Spiegel: "There are districts where immigrant gangs are taking over entire streets for themselves. Native residents and business people are being intimidated and silenced. People taking trams during the evening and nighttime describe their experiences as 'living nightmares.” Police officers are allegedly subjected to high levels of aggression. In Duisburg there are currently an estimated 60,000 Turkish Muslim residents, making it one of the most Islamized cities in Germany, as well as thousands of Bulgarians and Romanians .

This summer, the neighbourhood descended even deeper into a spiral of violence N24

Duisburg's Marxloh district, one of the most problematic in Germany, has been described as "a memorial to Germany's failed integration policy." More than half of the district's 20,000 inhabitants are migrants coming from 90 different countries. The areas in question are also rocked by poverty with many inhabitants being on welfare. In Marxloh, this figure is 50 per cent. N24 said about the area: "Once Duisburg-Marxloh was a popular shopping and residential area. Now clans claim the streets for themselves. The police are powerless. The descent of the district is nightmarish. "Police will enter some parts of Marxloh only with reinforcements. Several patrol cars are needed to respond even to commonplace rear-end collisions. Too often, they are surrounded by an aggressive mob, spat upon and threatened. “Last year, police were deployed to Marxloh more than 600 times with four or more patrol cars. "This summer, the neighbourhood descended even deeper into a spiral of violence. Family clans claim streets for themselves. Citizens hardly dare to go outside at night. In the smallest matter, violence is kindled."

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Osnabrück Police Commissioner Bernhard Witthaut told Der Westen: "Every police commissioner and interior minister will deny it. But of course we know where we can go with the police car and where, even initially, only with the personnel carrier. "The reason is that our colleagues can no longer feel safe there in twos, and have to fear becoming the victim of a crime themselves. We know that these areas exist. Even worse: in these areas, crimes no longer result in charges. “They are left to themselves. Only in the worst cases do we in the police learn anything about it. The power of the state is completely out of the picture."