With a roaring noise, the yellow excavator razes the last remains of another derelict property in the Bismarck district of Gelsenkirchen to the ground. An entire street with seven houses is being flattened to make way for new houses and a kindergarten.
The dilapidated properties and piles of rubbish in the street were not only a huge nuisance for local residents, but also a big campaign issue for the far-right populist Alternative for Germany (AfD)which linked it to labor migration from Southeast Europe.
