Posters calling for “No more Morias” referring to the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos which burned down, are hung on a tree on February 18, 2021 in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district.
David Gannon / AFP
Liberal locals say “we already have enough crime here,” and have expressed concerns about already overburdened infrastructure.
It is said that people get more right-wing as they grow older. A quicker way to achieve this appears to be having a large number of asylum seekers housed nearby.
Almost three-quarters of voters in Kreuzberg—described as one of Germany’s most liberal districts—backed the three major left-wing (pro-migration) parties in the last federal election. The more right-wing parties did not achieve double-digit support.
But now that plans are underway for almost 1,000 refugees—likely from Ukraine, Turkey, Afghanistan, and Syria—to be housed in a nearby shelter, currently being renovated, an anti-migration sentiment has begun to stir.
An online survey of residents on the development has received more clicks than any other local issue in recent weeks, according to German daily Berliner Zeitung. Sixty-eight locals said they view the refugee shelter with “concern and fear,” and 28 “expressed anger about the plan.” Thirty-nine said they were “looking forward to new people and movement in the neighborhood.”
District officials have also spoken up, pointing to already overburdened infrastructure in the neighbourhood as well as pre-existing crime rates—especially given that the shelter is supposed to be occupied in part by unaccompanied minors.
A woman who has lived in the area for more than two decades is likewise reported to have said:
We already have enough crime here.
Refugees will apparently only be accommodated in the centre temporarily. Work should be completed on the shelter towards the end of next year, with residents set to move in at the beginning of 2027.
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
