Is Essen in danger of becoming a theatre of war between hostile clans?
For decades, Essen has been home to several clans of Lebanese origin. They are the main focus of attention for the police and politicians. But that could change very soon.
Because the Essen police have to prepare for a new clan consisting of Syrians – and it is in rivalry with the Lebanese clans!
Flashback: On April 12, 2021, a group of hooded men beat two men in a Hyundai car with bludgeoning and cutting weapons in the Rüttenscheid district of Essen. Investigators also recovered bullet casings, and the perpetrators fled in a black Porsche Cayenne. Less than 24 hours later, a similar incident occurred in the district of Steele, where again a group attacked a victim and then fled.
A spokesperson for the Essen police also told the newspaper DER WESTEN in April 2021 that it was known that clans were fighting each other and trying to take the law into their own hands. The police spokesperson said at the time: “Unfortunately, these groups tend to bypass the rule of law in order to settle their affairs. Was this the beginning of a war between Lebanese and Syrians?
In Essen, the police have set up the “Special Clan Organisation” (BAO) in order to push back criminal clan branches, especially in the poorer north of the city. The spokesman of the “BAO Clan”, Pascal Schwarz-Pettinato, now tells DER WESTEN: “We observe that the Syrians have grown strongly in number. They clash with rival groups, crimes are committed. For us, it is now a matter of preventing a two-front war.”
Clan and Islamism expert Ahmad A. Omeirate (37) from Berlin emphasises in an interview with DER WESTEN that Essen is “a phenomenon in itself”. There would be a correspondingly large number of Syrians here because of the large number of family reunions. While the Lebanese want to defend their turf, the Syrians are trying to expand their territory. Omeirate: “The Syrians are structurally as far established after just a few years as the Lebanese are after 40 years. The predominant Lebanese are becoming restless, between them and the Syrians there is a collision of worldviews.”
But why this rivalry between Syrians and Lebanese? The expert points to history, explaining: “The Syrian military interventions in the Lebanese civil war, the decades-long occupation of Lebanon and ultimately the assassination of the then Prime Minister Hariri have given rise to aversion against Syrians among Lebanese. Moreover, they feel unequal treatment by politics and the municipality compared to the newcomers.”
In his opinion, the “strategy of 1,000 pinpricks” of North Rhine-Westphalia’s Interior Minister Herbert Reul (69, CDU) is necessary. However, it only combats the symptoms, but not the causes of clan crime, says Omeirate. The expert: “If the situation between the clans escalates and someone feels compelled to do so, there could be the potential for a new brutality, which is not known in Essen in this way.”