Source: AFP
Hundreds of gang sex attacks were committed on women during the night of New Year’s Eve in Cologne, West Germany. According to the police and witnesses, the perpetrators were “young people of Arab or North African origins”. The event caused a terrible feeling of distress in Germany. While the government condemns these despicable acts of violence, it fears a stigmatization of refugees.
Angela Merkel reached out to Henriette Reker, the mayor of Cologne and expressed to her “her indignation regarding these unbearable acts of violence and sexual attacks”, whereas other politicians are trying to establish a link with the growing presence of refugees in the country.
The event is taking an even larger extent because the number of complaints is multiplying and the police are being accused of not having reacted effectively. In total, more than 90 complaints have been filed and there are probably more to come. Complaints range from theft, sexual harassment to at least two rapes. The police also reported a dozen of similar complaints in Hamburg and Stuttgart.
Victims say that groups of 20 or 30 “drunk young men” encircled them in the middle of the thousands of people who had gathered around the Cathedral and outside Cologne central station.
“We were about to leave when a group of ten, twenty, thirty of young foreigners lashed out at us”, a victim said on television news channel N-TV. “They started to attack us, grabbing our crotch, touching our cleavage, under our coats,” she continued. She added that only women were targeted.
The mayor, Henriette Reker insisted that they found no evidence the attackers were refugees living in Cologne or in the surroundings. At this moment, the police have identified only three suspects.
On the evening of last Tuesday, according to the police between 200 and 300 people gathered symbolically in front of Cologne Cathedral to manifest and appeal to respect towards women.
Source: BBC News
New Year's Night of Horror in Cologne: Gang Sex Attacks
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