Recordholder. France is both europes Largest Jewish Community with about half a million members, and the largest Muslim Community is well with some 5 million members. But over recent weeks, tensions have been growing between the two groups, and that has become particularly visible in a small town on the outskirts of the capital, paris. It is sometimes referred to as little jerusalem because of its synagogues and decades old spirit of religious and ethnic tolerance, but since the latest gaza war between palestinians and israelis broke out, everything is different. It may not be pretty, but the area is lively and cosmopolitan. The parisian suburb is home to thousands of jews and muslims. It was once lauded as a model of how the two religious groups could coexist in peace, but the current conflict in gaza has changed that. Now, riots dominate the streets. Propalestinian muslims are stirring up sentiment against jews. Suddenly, this violence, hatred, and fear. Old people and children stay inside. Women cannot go out on the street alone. People are scared. There is a reign of fear. About 20 to 30 supposedly have got hold of weapons since the demonstrations. Ever since the rioters came here. Not so much to destroy things, but just to beat up the jews. In late july, progaza protesters stormed a jewish neighborhood, Looting Stores and shouting antiisraeli slogans. The conflagration in the mideast has also engulfed this town on the outskirts of paris. People are shocked by the situation, and leaders in the Muslim Community are trying to restore harmony. We are absolutely shocked by what has happened, and we apologize. We apologize in the name of all muslims. Local imams wrote a letter to the Jewish Community. The outofcontrol individuals who committed these medieval acts of violence do not belong to us. They live on the edge of society and have neither hard nor faith. The letter is a sign of reconciliation, but the iran snow that defeating the explosive situation is not entirely in the hands of the muslims the imams know. It has become almost socially acceptable in france. Even before the gaza conflict, politicians from the far right party were stirring up hostility toward jews. What im afraid of is that there will soon be a Strategic Alliance between that party and what are called jihadist or muslim extremist. If the crisis continues to worsen and if these groups the old antisemites and the new ones joined forces, it would be extremely dangerous for jews in france. The leftleaning french government seems to have underestimated the explosive situation. Alternately advocating toughness and deescalation, but that has been ineffectual against antisemitic rioting. Most of the demonstrators came here from other areas of paris. Police were unprepared. That has led to an official call for the town to have its own security zone. There is fear that the unique multicultural life of the municipality will be lost. The Biggest Group emigrated in the 1960s when algeria gained independence and they had to leave. There was a great deal of willing to accommodate them. As a result, there are many jews as well as muslims from the migrant living here. Despite their common roots, the offensive in gaza has divided the people here. The jews are concerned about their relatives in israel. The muslims feel solidarity with the palestinians in the gaza strip. I am shocked, like everybody else is. Its just too much. They are civilians. Women and children are being killed. Its not possible. I have never seen anything like it. The Jewish Community fears the next wave of attacks. The synagogue is effectively barricaded. I think that they are sincere opinions, but unfortunately, that is not enough in the current situation. They are too few. Thats the problem. Normally, there should be a big demonstration of all muslims against extremism, but that is not happening. Even moderate muslims face criticism for doing too little to stop the violence, but the Muslim Community also sees itself as victimized. We cannot go out onto the streets alone. People point the finger at us with this old cliche they are the ones who destroyed everything here. We are all born here. But the mood here and throughout the country has changed. More and more jews are unwilling to stay in france. A Record Number is expected to leave the country this year. If things keep on like this and do not improve, lots and lots of people will move. Its the same for me. Few here, except for extremists, want a mass exodus of jews. Most residents want the city to be what it was a lively Cosmopolitan Community on the outskirts of paris. Turks are going to the polls on sunday in what are the countrys first direct president ial elections. The countrys current Prime Minister is eager to get the job, and he is the leading candidate, but he almost fell from grace three months ago when hundreds of turkish coal miners were killed in a tragic accident. It turned out that the mine was in a terrible state and that it was not the only one. We sent our reporter, and there is at least one minor there in almost every family who knows how tough the job can be, and many feel abandoned to their own fate by erdogan and his government. With the sound of engines, the morning shift begins. Work begins at half past 6 00. The first thing the miners have to do is take the 150meter trip down the tube barely wider than a person. No one seems to care that they dissent with a burning cigarette and without helmets. After only a few minutes, the first bucket of coal is hauled up. Theyre paid next to nothing but the distributor, but they are friends, and they share everything. They are united on this lifethreatening work. The foreman has managed to find a helmet, but only because of our camera. It looks like a suicide mission, but they will not allow themselves to be afraid. Our only fear is that they will take away our jobs and our pay. In this region, there is no other work. The standards are deplorable because the workers built ease mines themselves. Ever since the disaster in soma, the turkish government has promised higher Safety Standards, but here at the border with iraq, not much has changed. Working conditions are turnofthecentury. The miners have nothing more than shovels, pickaxes, and flashlights. There are no gas masks, and theres no emergency alarm. The mine itself has no supports, no emergency exits. We take a big risk every day, but some of us have to feed five or six kids. What else can we do . The work lasts at least eight hours, while the hourly rate is a mere two euros, and of course, they are not insured. Human rights activists claim that even children under 16 have to work the mines, but at least for today, it seems that none are around. Turkey is using less and less coal as cities are now heated by natural gas. Consequently, the coal prices are in free fall. Around the quarries, the landscape is ruined. Stripmining has left a huge crater in the valley. This family are kurds like nearly everyone in this region. The decadeslong civil war between the army and the pkk is over, but the southeastern region of turkey is still by far the poorest. After the war and oppression, families want to escape poverty, but the state is threatening to close the mines. The family says the authorities are not bothered by the length Safety Standards but rather that the families and miners want to work in selfmanaged mines. The families still feel as if they are being specifically discriminated against. What i really wanted to do was become a doctor, but that opportunity is closed to a kid from this region. And if the mines were to close, then i would have to take my family to western turkey to look for work, just like lots of other people have had to. There are fewer than 70,000 people here, but there is at least one minor per family. People have the choice of dying in the mines or of starvation. At the beginning of the president ial campaign, there was a lot of talk about improving Safety Standards for miners, but that time has seemingly passed. The Prime Minister promised to help the families affected by the disaster in soma, but thus far, little has been done. Only the mayor has been fighting for the coal miners. He is fighting to save lives and jobs. The Current Conditions and circumstances in the mines do not meet the necessary Safety Standards. More than 100 people have lost their lives because of this. So i support their claims. They deserve more rights. The right to form cooperatives. When those are legalized, they can invest in Safety Standards. Then the workers will also have to be insured. For many families, it is coming too late. This family lost their father. His brother and a friend died and another mine at the end of may, due to gas poisoning. It left his widow with six children. Now the family feels completely alone. I saw my brothers body lifeless, lying on top of others. There was no one to rescue them, know when to pull them out no one to pull them out. I had to round up other miners. My brother was still alive. He could have been saved. At 12 30, we called an ambulance, but it took them five hours to get here. The medics had two gas masks, but both were broken. The help for my husband came too late. It all starts again the next morning. The miners ready themselves and hope for the best. Meanwhile, the government looks the other way. No matter how much money you own, you probably have noticed that keeping your money in the bank is probably not paying off at the moment. Interest rates are at an historic low because of the financial crisis. Many people are looking for alternatives. Why not buy a nice piece of art . Or better still, a house in london. Are pretty in the british capital is currently the ultimate object of desire for wealthy investors worldwide, but that trend comes with devastating consequences for london as a city. Real estate prices have shot up. Ordinary citizens can often no longer afford living in their own capital. One very smart is this man has put two and two together. He came up with the idea of the livein gardens. Welcome to Primrose Hill, a neighborhood in the heart of london that successfully manages to create the illusion of a small english town so successfully, in fact, that ordinary people cannot afford to live here, and that is just how the superrich who have taken over the area like it. A row house like this costs around 4 million euros, and events are accordingly high. If a tenant cannot be found, owners simply allow their buildings to stand vacant. The value goes up anyway. One man who has been watching this for a while is arthur duke. A lot of overseas purchases were sort of a tro free property trophy property to tell friends about. But there is a problem with that. If you leave a property open, theres always a chance someone could get in and steal all the assets. There is a lot of copper theft going on. Also, they could steal the lead, steal the fireplaces in the property. Or the buildings are simply squatted like this gallery, whose tenants could no longer pay their rent. That gave arthur duke a business idea. Livein guardians. Duke finds people to move into vacant buildings so they cannot be squatted or vandalized by others. It is by no means a luxurious way to live, but the freelance Graphic Designer cannot afford to live anywhere else in london. For allison, moving into this vacant cafe in Primrose Hill was like winning the lottery, even though she will have to move out if the building is sold. I dont think it is for everybody. Youve got to be willing to move into buildings that are not necessarily particularly nice, not in very good condition. You sometimes have to do quite a lot of work thomas a lot of cleaning. This one is actually lovely, and i was really happy when i moved into this one, but the one i was in last was very, very dirty when i moved in, and i had to do a lot of cleaning. So she tries to make the most of her provisional home in a neighborhood where she does not know anyone and does not want to know anyone. Her neighbors are all bankers, models, and managers. Its a really horrible situation, actually, for a lot of people, and i dont think it is sustainable, so im interested to see what will happen. Not even the solution is really cheap. Allyson pays arthur Dukes Company 500 euros a month, but duke has no shortage of potential tenants. 90 of the applicants are english, people who can barely afford to live in their own capital city. At the moment, we have a wait list of about 2000 people. The demand is so big, and supply is obviously much smaller, so its very competitive. We meet them all, we vet them all. They have to provide references and photo id. It is certainly an area of the Property Market that is growing. The only alternative is to move out of the city. Every morning at londons train stations, more than one million commuters arrive after journeys of up to three hours. Last year alone, real estate prices in london rose by another 26 . Analysts say an inch to the madness is not in sight. The problem in london is that we are regulating the construction of new houses, so prices are rising and rising, and houses have tended to Something Like an investment good rather than just somewhere to live. Until we fix the problem of supply, houses will be something that people see as an investment, and that means prices rising, particularly when Interest Rates are this low. For the livein guardians, existing in the gaps left by capitalism is a way out. Edward and his fellow actor friends have lived in this former jim gym for five months. They have so much space they are able to rehearse and put on their own plays here. These buildings would stand empty with no wind and then in prime locations around london, and no one would be able to live there. The Solution Works for everyone. It works for the companies who own these buildings, and it works for the people who are looking desperately for somewhere to live. But it is an idea that does nothing to solve the basic problem and is an option for only a few people. Living as a house sitter for the superrich who otherwise have taken over london completely. The violent war in Eastern Ukraine is increasingly taking its toll on other parts of europe, two. The European Union has imposed sanctions on russia, and moscow has retaliated by threatening to stop flows to europe. Europe and russia have long been important economic partners, but now, both sides are facing lawsuits because trade has been restrained. The consequences of this political ice age can also be felt in a spa town that has traditionally been popular with wealthy russian tourists, but since the conflict broke out, russians have been staying away from the czech republic, and many feel their livelihood is in danger. She does not worry much about world events, but the coach driver is feeling the effect of the conflict in ukraine. This is high season, usually the time she can make a good living with her horses, but she now has time to show us her spa town because it is almost deserted. I have never experienced it this empty. It used to be so much better. Now its very bad. There are almost no customers. The russians are not coming. Either they cannot get visas or i dont know what happened. It is sometimes called the westernmost town in russia, a story that began with peter the great who first came here for Health Reasons in 1711. After 1989, russians invested millions in the rundown city, helping restore it to a high standard. Each year, 100,000 tourists come from russia annually to visit spas and dental clinics. After 1968, russians had a bad image here because of the soviet troops that invaded czechoslovakia to crush the prague spring. Many people did not like the russians. We did not really notice that here, but with the ukraine crisis came the fear among russians that the checks could hold something against them again. Russian visitors say the cze chs are very friendly, but since the crisis, russians have been less keen to travel to the European Union. Many homes here are already being offered for sale. Victor has come despite the crisis. I think that with the International Situation around the conflict between russia and ukraine, many are simply afraid to go abroad. Even if Vladimir Putin and Angela Merkel are looking for solutions to the crisis, many are still worried. These worries mean fewer passengers, and the luxury shops she rides past complained that their superrich customers are staying away. Normally, it would be hard to get her coach through the crowds here. The season starts in may and goes to october, but now, it looks like it does in the fall. 50 fewer visitors came to this hotel saint petersburg. The russians are afraid that their credit cards would be blocked in europe, the ukrainian says. Many are feeling the results of a conflict he says affect only a small group of people. The scene from here is not a conflict of russians against ukrainians, but a political conflict. The politicians are to blame, and the Common People suffer. Russians and ukrainians who have gotten along fine for a long time. The conflict is fueled artificially by the politicians. There are 2300 kilometers between here and the ukrainianrussian front line, but economically, the conflict is very close. Perhaps, as some tourists joke, the politicians should meet to talk here. The 60degree hot mineral water that bubbles up from the springs here has an immense calming affect. She does not know how the conflict can be resolved. Ask her about horsedrawn carriages, not politics. This was once known as carlsbad, a german spot. If the russians stay away, they hope perhaps German Tourists will soon discover it a new. The important thing is that someone comes here to spend money. That report wraps up this edition of european journal. If you want to watch any of our reports or the full show again, remember, you can do so online. The address is dw. De europeanjournal. If you want to get in touch, we are on facebook, or send us your comments and questions via email. That is it for today. Thank you very much for watching. Auf wiedersehen and bye for now. Captioned by the National Captioning Institute www. Ncicap. Org gg99nnwcca7guc 08 14 14 08 14 14 [captioning made possible by democracy now ] from pacifica, this is democracy now ferguson, missouri looks like a war zone as police fired tear gas, stun grenades, and smoke bombs to break up a fifth night of protests over the Police Shooting of michael brown, an unarmed africanamerican teenager killed on saturday