Germany shocked by Cologne New Year gang assaults on women

[Sid Vicious]

The mayor of Cologne has summoned police for crisis talks after about 80 women reported sexual assaults and muggings by men on New Year's Eve.
The scale of the attacks on women at the city's central railway station has shocked Germany. About 1,000 drunk and aggressive young men were involved.
City police chief Wolfgang Albers called it "a completely new dimension of crime". The men were of Arab or North African appearance, he said.
Women were also targeted in Hamburg.
But the Cologne assaults - near the city's iconic cathedral - were the most serious, German media report. At least one woman was raped, and many were groped.
Most of the crimes reported to police were robberies. A volunteer policewoman was among those sexually molested.
Germany's New Year shock - by Damien McGuinness, BBC News Berlin

The attacks took place close to Cologne Cathedral as fireworks exploded celebrating the new year
The pretty Christmas market and medieval setting may look idyllic, but at Christmas and New Year the area around Cologne Cathedral is a notorious danger zone when it comes to pickpockets and theft.
Now the sexual harassment, and in one case rape, of dozens of women has shocked Germany.
What is particularly disturbing is that the attacks appear to have been organised. Around 1,000 young men arrived in large groups, seemingly with the specific intention of carrying out attacks on women.
Police in Hamburg are now reporting similar incidents on New Year's Eve in the party area of St Pauli. One politician says this is just the tip of the iceberg.
And there are real concerns about what will happen in February when the drunken street-parties of carnival season kick off.
Cologne will stage carnival events in February, with hundreds of thousands of revellers expected in the streets, as on New Year's Eve.
The police chief said "the assailants' behaviour is a real concern for me, also because of the carnival".
Police were deployed outside the central station because of the crowds on New Year's Eve, but failed to spot the many attacks, according to reports. There are also fears that a number of women did not report assaults.

'Monstrous' assaults
Cologne Mayor Henriette Reker said the attacks were "monstrous". "We cannot allow this to become a lawless area," she said, insisting that visitors could not come to the city fearing attack.
German Justice Minister Heiko Maas tweeted that "we won't tolerate these abhorrent assaults on women - all those responsible must be brought to justice".
One man described how his partner and 15-year-old daughter were surrounded by an enormous crowd outside the station and he was unable to help. "The attackers grabbed her and my partner's breasts and groped them between their legs."
A British woman visiting Cologne said fireworks had been thrown at her group by men who spoke neither German nor English. "They were trying to hug us, kiss us. One man stole my friend's bag," she told the BBC. "Another tried to get us into his 'private taxi'. I've been in scary and even life-threatening situations and I've never experienced anything like that."
The justice minister warned against linking the crimes to the issue of migrants and refugees.

Germany saw a record influx of migrants in 2015, which provoked an intense debate on immigration and marches by the anti-Islam Pegida movement.
Mr Maas said "the law does not discriminate regarding a person's origin or passport. All are equal before the law".
Cologne news website Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger says the suspects were already known to police because of frequent pickpocketing in and around Cologne central station.

Wider problem
In Hamburg several women told police that gangs of men had molested and robbed them on New Year's Eve on the Reeperbahn - a street known for its boisterous night life.
Some similar attacks were reported in Stuttgart.
A policeman who was outside Cologne station during the New Year's Eve trouble told the city's Express news website that he had detained eight suspects. "They were all asylum seekers, carrying copies of their residence certificates," he said.
However, there was no official confirmation that asylum seekers had been involved in the violence. Commentators in Germany were quick to urge people not to jump to conclusions.
German n-tv news says Cologne police are considering calling in reinforcements from other parts of Germany and installing extra surveillance cameras, with telescopic lenses.

Germany shocked by Cologne New Year gang assaults on women - BBC News

[Mr.HappySilp]

Just wondering did they release are they citizen of German, other countries or refugee.

[hchang]

Lol "tried to get us into his private taxi"

This is all probably inspired by fake taxi, public invasion, fake agent etc

[Hondaracer]

Dem refugees doe

[StylinRed]

Originally Posted by Mr.HappySilp

Just wondering did they release are they citizen of German, other countries or refugee.

they have no idea, just reports of crime, reports of the drunkards being intelligible, and reports that some looked african/arab

i imagine drunken acts of crime happen all the time in germany, but i find it odd that they're trying to orchestrate this as a gang of 1,000+ drunk arabs out to commit crime together and yet all you have are a few reports of gropings and one possible rape, across several cities/communities (that's not 1 organized gang), also no one's been apprehended officially

for something that's happened a week ago, you would think there would be a more concrete story, right now it just sounds like a story was thrown together without facts to stir shit up

[AzNightmare]

OK, didn't know there was a city in Germany called "Cologne".

That was one confusing thread title when not read in the right context.

[Razor Ramon HG]

Originally Posted by StylinRed

they have no idea, just reports of crime, reports of the drunkards being intelligible, and reports that some looked african/arab

i imagine drunken acts of crime happen all the time in germany, but i find it odd that they're trying to orchestrate this as a gang of 1,000+ drunk arabs out to commit crime together and yet all you have are a few reports of gropings and one possible rape, across several cities/communities (that's not 1 organized gang), also no one's been apprehended officially

for something that's happened a week ago, you would think there would be a more concrete story, right now it just sounds like a story was thrown together without facts to stir shit up

https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/c...new_year_gang/

One victim, 28 year old ‘Katja L’ spoke of her ordeal as she tried to make her way to the waiting room of Cologne railway station with two other girls and a boyfriend in the early hours of new year’s day. She told Der Express – one of the largest regional newspapers:

“When we came out of the station, we were very surprised by the group that met us there”. She said the group was “exclusively young foreign men”. Keeping close to her friends, they pressed on:

“We then walked through this group of men. There was an alley through [the men] which we walked through. Suddenly I felt a hand on my buttocks, then on my breasts, in the end, I was groped everywhere. It was a nightmare. Although we shouted and beat them, the guys did not stop. I was desperate and think I was touched around 100 times in the 200 meters.

“Fortunately I wore a jacket and trousers. a skirt would probably have been torn away from me”.

[GLOW]

seen several stories from other german towns posted on social media but this is the first time i've seen it posted on a site i've actually heard of like BBC.

[StylinRed]

Originally Posted by Razor Ramon HG

https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/c...new_year_gang/

Yes, as i stated, lots of reports and accusations, but nothing official, in terms of apprehended suspects (the 1 report of suspects being apprehended wasn't an official release), videos (social media? it's hard to ignore gangs of arabs on new years eve and not have that filmed), etc.

But that's not the main issue, as i mentioned, i'm sure acts of drunken crime occurs a lot in Germany, especially during celebrations like this. But with the initial reports i heard, they seemed to cherry pick such crimes from across the country, several cities were used in those reports, from cologne, hamburg, stuttgart, etc all of which are several hours drive apart, and they grouped those incidents involving supposed arabs and portrayed them as 1 organized gang attack

Also did all the grouped reports of crime come with witness testimony describing arabs/refugees? or did i fall for how the story was strewn together?

call me but with all the anti-refugee/islam incidents coming out of europe/germany right now, the way this story was put together, with the lack of anything concrete initially, just seemed a bit HMMM to me

not saying it didn't happen, it probably did, but was it 1 large organized drunken crime spree?? pretty lame result no? or was it just your usual drunken ruffians/revelers and the news or certain groups thought they could use these events to best push a hot button topic?

[Sid Vicious]

Originally Posted by StylinRed

Yes, as i stated, lots of reports and accusations, but nothing official, in terms of apprehended suspects (the 1 report of suspects being apprehended wasn't an official release), videos (social media? it's hard to ignore gangs of arabs on new years eve and not have that filmed), etc.

But that's not the main issue, as i mentioned, i'm sure acts of drunken crime occurs a lot in Germany, especially during celebrations like this. But with the initial reports i heard, they seemed to cherry pick such crimes from across the country, several cities were used in those reports, from cologne, hamburg, stuttgart, etc all of which are several hours drive apart, and they grouped those incidents involving supposed arabs and portrayed them as 1 organized gang attack

Also did all the grouped reports of crime come with witness testimony describing arabs/refugees? or did i fall for how the story was strewn together?

call me but with all the anti-refugee/islam incidents coming out of europe/germany right now, the way this story was put together, with the lack of anything concrete initially, just seemed a bit HMMM to me

not saying it didn't happen, it probably did, but was it 1 large organized drunken crime spree?? pretty lame result no? or was it just your usual drunken ruffians/revelers and the news or certain groups thought they could use these events to best push a hot button topic?

lol what are you even trying to say? a buncha women getting groped and molested in one day is a lame result?

Cologne: Reports of New Year's assaults spark firestorm - CNN.com

tons of cellphone footage apparently that the police are going through

[StylinRed]

Originally Posted by Sid Vicious

lol what are you even trying to say? a buncha women getting groped and molested in one day is a lame result?

Cologne: Reports of New Year's assaults spark firestorm - CNN.com

tons of cellphone footage apparently that the police are going through

if it were a gang of over 1000 people out to commit crime, and not just sporadic crime from drunk revelers, then yeah that was a lame result

but as i said, i was basing it on what was initially reported, and there wasn't a lot of details, and for something that happened a week ago i expected more details, other than vague details... looks like we may start to get more info though, nothing yet


edit: new bbc article

German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere has strongly criticised police handling of gang attacks on women and girls in Cologne on New Year's Eve.
"The police shouldn't work like this," he said, as it emerged that three suspects had been identified.

More than 100 victims have complained of being sexually assaulted or robbed by gangs of up to 30 men, reportedly of Arab or North African appearance.
Officials say the violence should not cast suspicion against all refugees.

A crowd of about 1,000 men had gathered in the square outside Cologne station during New Year's Eve, letting off fireworks. Many were drunk and aggressive.

Police eventually evacuated the area because of the risk of injury from the fireworks.

But gangs of youths soon returned and carried out dozens of attacks over a number of hours with little apparent response from the local authorities until well after midnight

The "anti-Islamisation" Pegida movement and the right-wing AfD said the attacks were a consequence of large-scale migration. AfD leader Frauke Petry asked if, after the attacks, Germany was now sufficiently "diverse and cosmopolitan".

Mr de Maiziere emphasised there should not be any general suspicion towards refugees, at least "at this stage of the investigation".

"But if North Africans were the perpetrators, for which there is some indication, there should not be a taboo and people should not gloss over it."

Cologne Mayor Henriette Reker had earlier said it was "completely improper" to link the attackers "who appeared to come from North Africa" with refugees.

But she was herself mocked for urging young women and girls to adopt a code of conduct that meant keeping an "arm's length" distance from strangers and sticking with a group of people.

'New dimension'

North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Ralf Jaeger told journalists on Wednesday that three suspects had been identified, although no arrests had been made.

He warned that anti-immigrant groups were trying to use the attacks to stir up hatred against refugees.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35241818

so there was a group of 1000+ men/people, whom were mostly drunk, celebrating new years and setting off fireworks at the square, but they were cleared out by police, later on groups of shit starting youths, numbering up to 30, showed up at the square and started shit... quite different from the early reports

[Y2K_o__o]

"The men were of Arab or North African appearance"

don't know what to say about this statement but it seems like they want to cut back their "no legal limit to refugee numbers" during the refugee crisis.

[GLOW]

Originally Posted by StylinRed

so there was a group of 1000+ men/people, whom were mostly drunk, celebrating new years and setting off fireworks at the square, but they were cleared out by police, later on groups of shit starting youths, numbering up to 30, showed up at the square and started shit... quite different from the early reports

not sure if you meant it differently but reading your comment sounds like a total of 30...but i read the article as multiple groups, some of these groups numbered up to 30. so it was over 30...who knows the exact number, still sounds like a lot of young men of a specific description gathered together committing acts of robbery and sexual assault.

More than 100 victims have complained of being sexually assaulted or robbed by gangs of up to 30 men, reportedly of Arab or North African appearance.

now that mainstream news sites are reporting stuff like this it'll be interesting to see how authorities follow up on this.

[StylinRed]

Originally Posted by GLOW

not sure if you meant it differently but reading your comment sounds like a total of 30...but i read the article as multiple groups, some of these groups numbered up to 30. so it was over 30...who knows the exact number, still sounds like a lot of young men of a specific description gathered together committing acts of robbery and sexual assault.


now that mainstream news sites are reporting stuff like this it'll be interesting to see how authorities follow up on this.

yep that's what i meant by 'groups of' but i could see how it could've been worded better, but since there are only 3 suspects and no arrests, who knows how many different groups there are

also they may be an entirely different group of people from the 1000 drunken men earlier on, as those were thrown out of the area and, aside from the aggressive attitude/fireworks use they didn't commit crimes... Later on that night groups of youths entered the area to start shit

[Sid Vicious]

Originally Posted by StylinRed

yep that's what i meant by 'groups of' but i could see how it could've been worded better, but since there are only 3 suspects and no arrests, who knows how many different groups there are

also they may be an entirely different group of people from the 1000 drunken men earlier on, as those were thrown out of the area and, aside from the aggressive attitude/fireworks use they didn't commit crimes... Later on that night groups of youths entered the area to start shit

Reports: Cologne NYE assaulters were largely asylum seekers
A majority of men who sexually harassed women in Cologne on New Year's Eve were asylum seekers, German media reports. City police reportedly did not want to publicize this because of its "politically awkward" nature.
City authorities identified at least some of the perpetrators at Cologne as asylum seekers from Syria, even detaining or questioning some of them, according to reports by local newspaper "Kölner Stadt-anzeiger" and national daily "Die Welt," which published an online preview of investigations by its "Welt am Sonntag" Sunday paper.
According to the newspapers' reports, citing officers on duty on New Year's Eve, officials checked the IDs of at least 100 people present at Cologne's central station on December 31 after their behavior became conspicuous. Seventy-one people were identified, 11 people were remanded into custody and 32 criminal complaints were registered, according to the Welt am Sonntag (WamS) report.
"There were, quite to the contrary of what was said publicly, identity checks on numerous people," the WamS quoted an unnamed officer as saying. "Most of them were recently-arrived asylum-seekers."
The first internal police report on the event - a so-called "wichtige Ereignis Meldung" ("important event announcement") - spoke of a crowd mainly of "North African and Arab" origin. According to the Kölner Stadt-anzeiger, the officer leading the team at the station wanted the report to include mention of the Syrians and asylum seekers, but the senior officer writing the "WE-Meldung" decided not to, saying it would be "politically awkward."
It is still unclear whether the same persons were involved in the assaults.
Offenders were after 'sexual amusement'
WamS also received information contradicting another official statement by the city police, which said the main intention of the men in Cologne was to steal from passengers and that assault was secondary. However, "what actually happened was the exact opposite," a police officer said on condition of anonymity.
"For the mostly Arabic offenders, sexual assault was the priority, or, to express it from their point of view, their sexual amusement was thepriority. A group of men would encircle a female victim, close the loop, and then start groping the woman," WamS quoted the officer as saying.
The deputy chief of the trade union for police employees (the GdP), Ernst Walter, suggested that the Cologne police's mishandling of the case could cost city police chief Wolfgang Albers his job: "I'm asking myself this," Walter said. "How could the police publish a message on January 1, saying that New Year's celebrations had been peaceful?"
"All these shocking incidents" had become known the same night, he said, adding that officers from the federal police were trying to help women and were worried that "people could have even died."
The media reports still largely contradict Cologne police's official account of events, which say that 16 possible suspects have so far been identified, with that group "to the largest extent" hailing from North Africa.
The state's interior minister, Ralf Jäger, has already ordered a first full formal report on the incident, which is due for submission on Monday. When asked for a comment by the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger local paper, police referred the reporters to the impending formal report, saying they would neither confirm nor deny the report.
Nearly 1,000 men are reported to have divided themselves into smaller groups and robbed and sexually harassed women at Cologne's central station on New Year's Eve. Similar incidents occurred on a far smaller scale in Hamburg and Stuttgart.
mg/msh (AFP, dpa, Reuters)

Reports: Cologne NYE assaulters were largely asylum seekers | News | DW.COM | 07.01.2016

[StylinRed]

yeah ive been watching the updates, and the number of police complaints over that night have skyrocketed too (last i heard it was around 1,000 reports)
number of suspects are still low though, but it has gone up quite a bit from just 3 (up to 15? officially)

and if those newspaper findings turn out to be true (number of suspects, those detained, etc) then this is still a conspiracy but not one from the anti-refugee groups

[Hondaracer]

Said of the 30 prime suspects, 18 are asylum seeking refugees

[Sid Vicious]

Originally Posted by StylinRed

yeah ive been watching the updates, and the number of police complaints over that night have skyrocketed too (last i heard it was around 1,000 reports)
number of suspects are still low though, but it has gone up quite a bit from just 3 (up to 15? officially)

and if those newspaper findings turn out to be true (number of suspects, those detained, etc) then this is still a conspiracy but not one from the anti-refugee groups

Conspiracy? what the hell are you talking about

[GLOW]

i think he meant instead of it being an anti-refugee propaganda attempt, it's actually the opposite, an attempt at covering up for refugees committing criminal acts for fear of public image issues or perception of anti-refugee propaganda

[StylinRed]

Originally Posted by Sid Vicious

Conspiracy? what the hell are you talking about

what glow said

[Sid Vicious]

Swedish women report being groped by men on New Year’s Eve

Swedish police say at least 15 young women have reported being groped by groups of men on New Year’s Eve in the city of Kalmar.

The Swedish reports follow a string of sex assaults and robberies during New Year’s celebrations in Germany.

Kalmar police spokesman Johan Bruun on Friday said groups of men encircled women on a crowded square and groped them. He said no one was physically injured but that many of those targeted were terrified.

He said two men, both asylum-seekers, were informed through interpreters that they’re suspected of sexual assault and that police are trying to identify other suspects.

Asked about similarities to assaults in Germany, Bruun said, “We are aware of what happened in Germany but we are focusing our investigation on what happened in Kalmar.”

Let's hope Trudeau learns from Europe's mistakes

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...n-Germany.html

[Mr.HappySilp]

^^ with comment like that you are going to have refugee loving RS member attacking you.

I always wonder since so many ppl support the refugee coming to Canada how many of them actually open their doors to allow the refugees to live in their homes, feed them, provide for them. Or are they simply supporting the act with absolutely no intention of helping any refugees.

[Sid Vicious]

Originally Posted by Mr.HappySilp

^^ with comment like that you are going to have refugee loving RS member attacking you.

I always wonder since so many ppl support the refugee coming to Canada how many of them actually open their doors to allow the refugees to live in their homes, feed them, provide for them. Or are they simply supporting the act with absolutely no intention of helping any refugees.

that's okay, with cases like this in Germany, Sweden and Finland my stance is gaining validation by the day.

hopefully one day the people who support this will pull their collective heads out of their asses

[StylinRed]

Originally Posted by Sid Vicious

that's okay, with cases like this in Germany, Sweden and Finland my stance is gaining validation by the day.

hopefully one day the people who support this will pull their collective heads out of their asses

you supported the narrative that this was the fault of refugees, before there was anything concrete to that claim, so, speaking of pulling heads out of asses..
even now it's not concrete, but the details are growing...

you also have to realize that Germany has accepted over 1,000,000 refugees in the past year, hooligans/criminals being amongst that number shouldn't be a surprise
Germany didn't have the ability to screen everyone, unlike us

[Sid Vicious]

Originally Posted by StylinRed

you supported the narrative that this was the fault of refugees, before there was anything concrete to that claim, so, speaking of pulling heads out of asses..
even now it's not concrete, but the details are growing...

you also have to realize that Germany has accepted over 1,000,000 refugees in the past year, hooligans/criminals being amongst that number shouldn't be a surprise
Germany didn't have the ability to screen everyone, unlike us

thoughts on these statistics?

I don't believe that this an issue with ethnicity or race, but i just feel importing a buncha uneducated people from war torn countries that treat women like chattel is a bad idea.