Youth violence

More stick than carrot for integration

Halloween riots in Linz 2022(Bild: FOTOKERSCHI.AT)

How can integration succeed and youth violence be curbed? A look at the German capital Berlin shows that there is still a lot to do in this regard and that the solutions to the problems are anything but simple.

What Halloween in 2022 was for Linz was for Berlin last New Year's Eve: young people, many of them from immigrant backgrounds, fought a street battle with the police. In both places, the riots left politicians baffled and society unsettled. "New Year's Eve was the initial spark that made it clear: now we really have to do something," says CDU politician Falko Liecke during a visit to Berlin by an Upper Austrian delegation led by Integration Councillor Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer (ÖVP). The main purpose of the trip, which lasts until Friday, is to get input from Germany's neighbor and to get an idea of the situation in the city of 3.8 million inhabitants.

Islamist scene is spreading
For the Berlin district of Neukölln, the local integration commissioner Güner Balci paints a gloomy picture: the Islamist scene is growing stronger in the district of 330,000 inhabitants. Parallel societies and patriarchal structures mean that more and more young people are no longer within reach of integration.

Shaken politics and society: New Year's Eve in Berlin(Bild: Kietzmann,Björn)

Police presence in elementary school
So what can be done? "Intervene as soon as possible," says CDU politician Liecke. That means: violence prevention and social work in kindergartens, police presence in elementary school. If something has happened and young people are already in prison, an interesting project by Ahmad Mansour comes into play: the psychologist heads the MIND prevention initiative. This involves social workers going into juvenile prisons and helping young offenders to deal emotionally with their often patriarchal life situation and reduce their fear of losing their identity through role play, among other things.

State Councillor Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer (l.) with Ahmad Mansour in Berlin(Bild: Land OÖ/Philipp Albert)

Repression is important
For Hattmannsdorfer, prevention is also a pillar in the fight against parallel societies. However, he emphasizes the importance of repression even more. In other words, there must be tough sanctions for those who do not abide by our rules. "It's about better interaction between police and social work," says the state councillor, taking lessons from Berlin. And that it is "the biggest mistake" to "ignore or gloss over problems" - as was the case in Berlin for a long time.

It was also clear that the digital space should not be left to "extremists and pied pipers". But both Berlin and Upper Austria are still in their infancy in this area.