No-go area

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A "no-go area" or "no-go zone" is a neighborhood or other geographic area where some or all outsiders are either physically prevented from entering or can enter at risk. The term includes exclusion zones, which are areas that are officially kept off-limits by the government, such as border zones and military exclusion zones. It also includes areas held by violent non-state actors, such as guerillas/insurgents, organized crime and terrorist organizations.^[1] In some cases, these areas have been held by insurgent organizations attempting to topple the government,^[2] such as Free Derry, an area in Northern Ireland that was held by the Irish Republican Army from 1969 to 1972. In other cases, the areas simply coexist alongside the state; an example is Kowloon Walled City, an area in Hong Kong essentially ruled by triad organizations from the 1950s to the 1970s.

In the 21st century, the term has most often been used to refer to areas that police or medical workers consider too dangerous to enter without heavy backup. Government officials and journalists from various European countries, including France^[3] and Germany,^[4] have used the term to describe neighborhoods within their own country. This usage of the term is controversial, generating significant debate over which areas, if any, are truly off-limits to police.^[5][6][7] Some right-wing and conservative commentators and politicians have falsely claimed that Western countries contain areas where national law has been displaced by sharia law and non-Muslims are shunned.^{[8][9][10][11][12]}