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In a recent MSNBC interview, Donald trump said this:

"Paris is no longer the same city it was. They have sections in Paris that are radicalized and the police refuse to go there. They're petrified. ... We have places in London and other places that are so radicalized that the police are afraid for their own lives"

This question is similar to Are there officially pronounced "no-go" Islamic zones in France?, however different in that Trump never claims these sections are official. He also claims that "police refuse to go there", not that they're officially refused entry. He claims these places exist in "Paris, London, and other places".

If this is true then certainly there'd be statements or statistics by police mentioning these areas. Is this true?

LCIII
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    Has somebody challenged Trump to name one of these places? That shouldn't be difficult for him if he actually has verified it. – DJClayworth Dec 08 '15 at 21:55
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    I see this as a simple corruption of the original claim, as you might find with any retelling of an urban legend. I see this as a duplicate, despite the minor differences. Can we close it? – Oddthinking Dec 08 '15 at 23:24
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    Reminder to commenters: Your political views and tribal alliances are of no interest on this forum. – Oddthinking Dec 09 '15 at 08:00
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    I don't think this is a duplicate. This asks about the whole of Europe, but the linked question is about France in particular. – PointlessSpike Dec 11 '15 at 09:38
  • Back when The Other was west-Indians rather than Muslims there was stories about areas where the police would take "the scenic route" when responding to an on-going crime. – liftarn Dec 11 '15 at 14:43
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    I don't think this is a duplicate. I think this question significantly differs from the linked one in that, as stated by OP, the no-go zone status of the areas this is about **isn't official**. The top answer at the linked question is clearly "these particular officially recognized areas (ZUS) are not no-go zones", but doesn't answer this question, which is "are there areas (other than ZUS) that are (**unofficially but in practice**) no-go zones ?". @Oddthinking – Nikana Reklawyks Jun 21 '18 at 19:00
  • @NikanaReklawyks: I disagree (see comment above). The London part of the claim is vague - I am sure there are police everywhere in the world who are sometimes afraid; that's a statement of human nature, not crime. The Paris part sounds like the same claim. I think it is better to redirect people to the other question than have it stand here. If anyone has evidence of areas that police unofficially refuse to go in Paris, making it clear that it is a different claim, please flag this. – Oddthinking Jun 21 '18 at 23:38

1 Answers1

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I can't speak for Paris, but in the case of London this is patently false.

Several British officials have stated categorically that Donald Trump is wrong.

"We would not normally dignify such comments with a response, however on this occasion we think it’s important to state to Londoners that Mr. Trump could not be more wrong," a spokeswoman for the police said in a statement. She offered Trump a tutorial: "Any candidate for the presidential election in the United States of America is welcome to receive a briefing from the Met Police on the reality of policing London."

London's mayor, the conservative politician Boris Johnson, also chimed in. "As a city where more than 300 languages are spoken, London has a proud history of tolerance and diversity and to suggest there are areas where police officers cannot go because of radicalization is simply ridiculous," he said.

Prime Minister David Cameron also refuted Trump.

"The Prime Minister completely disagrees with the comments made by Donald Trump, which are divisive, unhelpful and quite simply wrong," his official spokeswoman said.

NOTE: While it may be argued that these comments provide no concrete evidence against Trump's claims, since Trump himself has offered no evidence in favour of them (such as even naming one of these supposed areas) a preponderance of dismissals by people better positioned than him to know the facts are all that is required to refute him.

DJClayworth
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    +1 I can't think of anything closer to proving a negative than "There's no evidence that it exists and the best-placed experts who could observe it if it did exist strongly deny that it is there" – user56reinstatemonica8 Dec 09 '15 at 11:01
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    It would be cool if there were an independent source to cite, though I doubt it. The London police, mayor and PM might be construed as having a vested interest in maintaining the appearance of the rule of law even if it's lacking. – Patrick87 Dec 09 '15 at 13:37
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    And Donald Trump has a vested interest in maintaining that there is evidence to support his racist rhetoric, even if it's lacking. – DJClayworth Dec 09 '15 at 15:18
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    London isn't all of Europe. Sweden has multiple officials claiming there's no-go zones. However what is usually meant by this term is that the community refuses completely to cooperate with police in any fashion - similar to how some black communities in the US absolutely refuse to cooperate with police, even for murders - not that the police are physically prevented from entering. – ThisHandleNotInUse Dec 09 '15 at 20:04
  • @ThisHandleNotInUse There are places like that in London. But Trump doesn't claim that. He claims that "the police don't go there because they are in fear of their lives". – DJClayworth Dec 09 '15 at 20:42
  • @DJClayworth: we expect claimants mentioned in questions to be untrustworthy, but we expect sources in answers to be trustworthy. – Andrew Grimm Dec 09 '15 at 21:22