Residents accuse politicians of failure
Hanover. A car on fire, mailboxes blown away, massive threats, fights on the street and wheelchair users having firecrackers thrown at them: the list of violent crimes, apparently started by a group of young people on the Kronsberg, is long. And according to the descriptions of the residents, it is not even complete.
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What the citizens in the residential district have to endure every day in written form has apparently been going on for around ten years.At a citizens’ dialogue in the Krokus district center on Tuesday evening on the subject of street violence, the majority of the around 200 visitors accused the district politicians and police of failing and looking the other way for years.
Local residents had already photographed young people walking through the streets of Kronsberg in the autumn: the young man on the right of the picture has a pistol in his hand.
© Source: private
This Newspaper had in November about riots, threats and insults in the municipality reported. The district council of Kirchrode-Bemerode-Wülferode then organized the citizens’ meeting. According to the citizens on Tuesday, there should be about a dozen young people between the ages of twelve and 21. There were also some who swam along in the fairway. From about 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. they move through the district. Most of them are known by name and probably also to the police.
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Police apologize – “appointment sweaty”
The conversation should actually calm the situation down, that’s what the district council had thought. After the quick two-and-a-half-hour dialogue, the disastrous picture of a situation on the Kronsberg emerged, which many properties perceive as sometimes severely stressful and severely restricted in their everyday life.
Some citizens avoid dying outdoors in the evening hours. “I no longer take my children to the playground without my husband,” said one mother. In discussions with young people who were suspicious, they were told that nothing would happen to them anyway, since the police weren’t doing anything. She was also invited to the dialogue, but was excused – “appointment sweaty,” it said.
Debate with a surprising outcome: the residents of Kronsberg vented their frustration that had apparently been building up for years at the citizens’ dialogue.
© Source: Andreas Voigt
Mayor Bernd Rödel (SPD), who moderated the evening, excused the absence of an officer from the responsible police station in Döhren with “human error”. However, Rödel emphasized that according to police statistics known to him, Kronsberg was no more conspicuous than other parts of the city. A statement corroborated by an officer from the citywide Prevention Service. It is therefore wrong, according to Rödel, to stigmatize the entire Kronsberg and dismiss it as the “Bronx”. During the course of the evening, Rödel and the district council were also accused of having done nothing against the violence on the streets for years.
SPD in Hanover accuses Bernd Rödel of intern inactivity
An accusation that is also raised within the SPD. In party circles, the district mayor is said to have been repeatedly asked for a long time to work to expand youth and social work on the Kronsberg because of the problems. “He could have done that with budget support applications, for example. That didn’t happen. Instead, Bernd Rödel has been trying for years to downplay the problems at Kronberg and looks the other way,” says a person from the city’s local politics of the SPD. An accusation that was also heard several times from other quarters on Tuesday evening.
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Long list: The city administration recorded the results of the citizens’ dialogue. Which ideas will be implemented is still to be decided.
© Source: Andreas Voigt
In fact, it seems that youth and social work does not meet the needs of young people. “We don’t know where to go,” said a young person at the citizens’ dialogue. He and other young people asked for offers. For years, the city has been saving on youth and social work, opening hours and offers have been reduced, reported a district resident who works for the city administration. Marco Knorr from the church family and youth project Life Tower on Kronsberg said there was a gap in the care of 12 to 15 year olds. “We have to go there.”
Violence: IGS sends the entire vintage home
An assessment shared by Kathleen Fleer, head of the IGS Kronsberg, on Tuesday: “The young people are not angry. But they need spaces in which they can be heard. And they are missing.” Fleer reported how the IGS recently sent the entire seventh year with 150 students home because a lot of things at the school had gotten out of hand: “insults, physical arguments, gaffes towards teachers.” In these two days, the school then came up with a concept with rules.
Center of Kronsberg: The Thie is the central square in the residential area in the district of Bemerode. From here the young people make their rounds.
© Source: Andreas Voigt
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Inadequate youth and social work and a police force that leaves the citizens of Kronsberg alone – these are the main reasons for the misery for a majority of the 200 visitors to the citizens’ dialogue. One resident knows an example: “If you call the police three times because very loud firecrackers are being set off right in front of your front door at night, and you hear from the police three times that we won’t come by because of two firecrackers, then don’t call the fourth time come on.” In this obvious police vacuum, the young people no longer seem to know any boundaries. At Thie there is an inclusive housing project from the Annastift, several residents in wheelchairs with multiple disabilities were also invited to the dialogue. They reported that firecrackers were thrown at themselves and that they were mobbed: “And we can’t even defend ourselves,” said a young woman in a wheelchair.
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List with many ideas – some should be implemented
At the end of the evening, a list of different ideas and suggestions on how to solve the situation was created. It ranges from nightly police patrols with dogs, a regular community festival on the Thie to the desire for more youth activities. “We will see what can be implemented and then continue the dialogue in the new year,” District Mayor Rödel dismissed the citizens in the evening. Many of them were left at a loss – again.
Place of encounter: The citizens’ dialogue took place in the district center of Krokus. There are also offers for young people in the Krokus. But apparently they are not enough.
© Source: Andreas Voigt