In some districts of Berlin, attacks on homosexuals are increasing. The attackers are mostly migrants. The reason for this is also the wave of refugees in 2015. But the refugee community does not want to know this, talks about anti-Muslim resentment and turns victims into perpetrators.
With their “multicultural flair”, Berlin’s hip neighbourhoods Kreuzberg and Neukölln are regarded as the epitome of authentic lifestyle, without asking whether the generally articulated enthusiasm for pluralistic lifestyles is also popular with all cultural and religious communities. Whereas a few years ago, local neighbourhoods with their historic gay cafés and bars were still a place of refuge among like-minded people, nowadays many gays hardly dare to go out on the street anymore, they move to Schöneberg, where they are no longer safe either, or they leave Berlin to escape the equally taboo and organised hunts carried out by young men of the Muslim faith.
The anti-violence campaign Maneo records cases of physical violence against gays, lesbians, bisexuals and trans people committed in those places in Berlin where the groups mostly hang out, such as in front of clubs or at Nollendorfplatz square in Schöneberg. In Berlin alone, Maneo recorded an increase in homophobic violence from 58 to 382 assaults in 2018, with 559 cases added in 2019.
Statistically, there is more than one assault per day, and the number of unreported cases is far more worrying. According to Maneo, the vast majority of perpetrators are young men with an Arab-Turkish migration background or those who belong to Islamic milieus. The danger of being exposed to a homophobic attack is many times higher in the Berlin district of Neukölln and other migrant “hotspot districts” than in neighbourhoods like Charlottenburg or Prenzlauer Berg.
In other European cities with larger Islamic communities, such as Paris, Brussels, Malmö or London, the number of cases shows a similar trend. Not only gays are at risk, but also women in terms of sexual violence, but also Jews who identify themselves as such by wearing a kippah in public spaces.