Riots after Gen Z protests: And marked as foreign again

How long does one remain a migrant? This is a question that migrant people have had to ask themselves for decades. According to the statements of Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) and the Hessian Interior Minister Roman Poseck (CDU), a German passport apparently does not change the fact that one remains a migrant forever.

Because Dobrindt and Poseck made a distinction that was completely natural for them: Those who were involved in the riots after the Gen Z protests at the weekend mostly had German citizenship, but were among the “chaotics from the migrant milieu.”

Ultimately, this is what CDU politicians have been communicating for years with terms like “little pashas” or a “problem in the cityscape” and are now saying even more openly: No matter what generation you are in and what passport you have, you don't belong.

Frankfurt is a migrant city. 58 percent of the population has a history of immigration. People here have long understood that we live in a migration society and that migrant people are naturally part of the “cityscape”. What is even more absurd is that Poseck made these statements on Sunday alongside Frankfurt Mayor Mike Josef, who himself has an escape story.

So who exactly is this “migrant milieu” supposed to be? Who does that mean? Was this determined during police checks on Saturday evening based on the German passport, family history or skin color? And why is a large part of Frankfurt's urban society placed under general suspicion?

For the young people from Frankfurt, it is another slap in the face when they talk about the “Zeil clientele”, who commit violations of the law and are sometimes prepared to use violence. This apparently also refers to migrant people who meet up on Frankfurt's shopping mile, the Zeil, at the weekend and have fun there. Because here it becomes clear: The good migrants are obviously the ones who stay in their neighborhoods, are invisible and have their fun elsewhere so that the so-called majority society is not confronted with them if possible.

What happened in Frankfurt at the weekend was sometimes brutal. It's shocking what Frankfurt's shopping mile looked like at the weekend and that many shop owners now have to reckon with financial consequences.

In response to this, the Hessian police want to focus even more on men from the “migrant milieu”. It has long been known that the Frankfurt police have a right-wing extremism problem. The fact that there will now be even more racial profiling in Frankfurt is not only legally questionable. The question also arises as to what problem it is intended to solve.

These highly discriminatory policies, racist statements and controls do nothing to help young migrant people feel like they are part of this society. On the contrary: they increase the feeling of being excluded and discriminated against. A very clear political line has been pursued for years: as many social problems as possible, from missing dentist appointments to anti-Semitism, can apparently be easily explained by migration.

In addition, migrant people who have taken part in pro-Palestinian demonstrations in recent years have often been criminalized across the board and their concerns ignored. One should not forget that many young people in Frankfurt grew up with the fact that a right-wing extremist murdered nine people in Hanau six years ago. The murdered were also among the people who today would probably fall under what is referred to as the “Zeil clientele”.

That evening, Vili Viorel Păun tried to contact the police, but was left without help and died. For Hamza Kurtović, the fact that the emergency exit in the Arena Bar was locked had fatal consequences. What has remained with the survivors, but also with many young people after all these years, is the realization: A racist can murder them without the necessary consequences following and without anyone actually taking responsibility.

It is no surprise that these people eventually lose the feeling of being politically represented. Anyone who constantly criminalizes them and makes them feel like they don't belong should not be surprised if at some point they actually no longer see themselves as part of this society.