After rival migrant clans brawled in the German city of Essen, even larger clan groups gathered less than 24 hours later at the same location to fight it out in the same place, resulting in a stabbing that left one man seriously injured. Police officials say the tensions between rival migrant gangs to be the main motive behind the clashes, according to the German Die Welt news outlet.
The first mass brawl happened on Saturday and involved approximately 30 people in Essen’s Altendorf district. Police say that during this first incident, a number of arrests were made, but no one was seriously injured and there were no weapons involved. However, over 100 individuals belonging to rival clans then gathered at the same place the next day on Sunday, and this time they were armed with knives and sticks, but also utilized furniture and even plates as weapon during this second melee.
Video of the incident shows large masses of migrant clans battling it on the street.
One man was seriously injured with a stab wound to the neck and remains in the hospital, but a number of other participants were injured as well.
According to local reports, the trigger for the violence was likely a dispute between two large families. The feud may have been sparked by a Cologne music manager, who has several rappers signed under contract, after he was insulted by a member of another extended family.
North Rhine-Westphalia’s Minister of the Interior, Herbert Reul, had increasingly tried in recent years to act against gang violence, especially in the Ruhr area, a place where migrant clan crime remains a major problem.
Despite the state making it a priority to fight clan crime, a Die Welt report indicates that “residents of the district have given up hope that the German state can still create order here.”
After initially refusing to speak to the reporter, one witness said that a “few hundreds of Arabs” fought on Saturday at Altendorfer Strasse and attacked each other with knives and furniture. He saw that one person had been stabbed in the neck but refused to give his name, which the Die Welt report notes is the common position for those who witness crimes in the district. The man said that the feud between the clans will not end.
“It will continue and get worse.” He forms a pistol with his right hand, his index finger pulling its invisible trigger. He warned that “if the boy dies, they’ll shoot here,” referring to the seriously injured man in the hospital.