Mass sexual assaults in Cologne on New Years Eve

[Cellardoor1]

I've just read this and I'm shocked that such a thing could happen. A group of around 1,000 men gathered and assaulted at least 60 women and girls and also pickpocketed people. Apparently the news wasn't released until now out of fears it could stir up tension as the men appeared to be of Arab/North African appearance, possibly refugees.

abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/cologne-police-chief-condemns-sex-assaults-years-eve-36083833

The news has only now been picked up by the Germany-wide press. It's the top story on Spiegel since this morning, some local papers and TV were reporting it much earlier. There is a heated discussion on a German parenting forum when the reports started mentioning the appearance of the men and if it is necessary at all to mention it.

I'd been reading about this on social media all day on Sunday. Mainstream media, in the main, still don't seem to have picked the story up/suppressing it. Citizens want to talk about it, though. Most comments on one or two, even vaguely related, Guardian articles are discussing this.

Spiegel doesn't allow comments on this story. There are now also reports from Hamburg about similar incidents.
I assume that the complaints to the police were coming in slowly and it took a while for everybody to realize the scale.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35231046

Cellar, thank you for starting the thread. I read about this last night and was very disturbed by it.

I have family in Germany and have worked in Cologne and Berlin for a few years. I am truly appalled by these mob attacks on women but I can't say I am surprised. I have witnessed and experienced sexist ganging up by such men on girls and women, on buses in shopping arcades and elsewhere. There is a mob mentality at play and many of these men have absolutely no respect for girls and women. I haven't seen any physical attacks but serious pestering by groups of men or teenage boys as an everyday occurrence. For example, going to a nice shopping arcade, you can be sure , if a young (German) girl(s) walk by such a group they will oggle very ostentatiously and violate personal space and intimidate them. It is disturbing and unpleasant. In fact, this is one of the reasons why I would not want to raise my daughters in Germany. I have also travelled to the middle East and Turkey. During a visit to Istanbul when I was 18 years, I was groped (boobs and bumb) by at least 4 or 5 men. I was wearing a long skirt, modest t-shirt and was walking with my mum and dad! Men like these are scum.

Hordes of men groping and sexually harassing women in public is unfortunately very common in settings like the middle east.

www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jun/09/egyptian-women-protesters-sexually-assaulted

www.genderconcerns.org/article.php?id_nr=3573&id=Egypt%20police%20stand%20by,%20laugh%20as%20women%20harassed,%20groped

english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2014/06/28/Of-bra-straps-and-groping-Egypt-enough-is-enough-.html

Male immigrants from these countries who were raised to disrespect women bring their despicable attitudes to women to their host countries. I don't think it's as bad in the UK but definitely in France, Sweden and Germany. Basically where integration isn't great. As always, these nasty people and their nasty behaviour make for bad press and creates problems for all the decent people with these cultural origins. IMO the police should intervene very harshly and politicians must not shy away from the topic out of fear of being labelled racist.

interestingly the BBC does not mention the ethnicity of the perpetrators.

www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/inland/silvesternacht-die-abscheulichen-uebergriffe-werden-wir-nicht-hinnehmen-13997842.html

Sorry it's in German but a it is reputable paper stating that the men were of North-African origin, which was confirmed by the police. So basically a crowd of up to 1000 men awaited female tarvelelers outside the central station and en route to the city centre and old part of town where all the New year's festivities took place were. So there was no choice but pass through this vicious crowd. They groped, robbed, stripped clothing off girls and raped women 9one reported rape so far). Reading the German press, the media storm is juts starting now, four days after the event. This didn't just happen in Cologne but also in Hamburg.

Pinkchampchoccies - The BBC does say "The men were of Arab or North African appearance, he said."

The headline is "Germany shocked by Cologne New Year gang assaults on women"

Then it says "About 1,000 drunk and aggressive young men were involved."

Then after that it mentions ethnicity.

The last line is "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."

So if it is known for boisterous night life then that's only to be expected? Is that the implication, or am I reading too much into it?

"Then after that it mentions ethnicity."
Oh, I didn't read that, thank you for pointing it out.

"So if it is known for boisterous night life then that's only to be expected? Is that the implication, or am I reading too much into it?"
Do you mean it is expected that women get sexually harassed by gangs at Reeperbahn? I am not sure I understand what you mean.

This is awful. And its only going to increase racial tensions.

CFSKate, that is a BBC article. BBC. I don't know what the facts and truth is, but the BBC slant may not reflect it.

My god what a frightening thing to be happening. Not only in Cologne but other cities too. Germany needs to sort this hard and fast or it will escalate rapidly. Fucking hell, imagine how terrified those women were.

Pinkchampchoccies- sorry, I am not good with words (brainfog), I meant to ask, are the BBC implying that sort of behaviour is not that far from normal for that particular street (downplaying the seriousness of the incidents), or am I reading too much into it? Maybe they are just describing the street.

Reeperbahn is red light district of Hamburg, with adult clubs, adult cinemas, sex shops etc.

The Reeperbahn is the red light district in Hamburg. I remember visiting it many years ago, and a whole street was literally barred for women - there was a No Women Allowed to Enter sign up at the end of the road.

I travelled round Europe on my own as a student, and was harassed by a number of men, nearly all of Middle Eastern origin. Particularly in Switzerland. Including an all night stand-off on a sleeper train.

It is in the bbc news site and yet not in my usual online newspapers that I can see.

I would have missed this story entirely except that I am on MN a lot this week. Thank you OP.

This is horrendous.

Is there a Guardian article? I have now seen BTL comments.

Jeez. So was this happening over a period of time then? Where were the police while a small army was on the streets?

Any news on whether these were recent immigrants or not? This will set the cat among the pigeons, and rightly so. There are issues when cultures clash. There are too many issues with modern society that have been ignored for too long.

Not surprised by this at all. This kind of incident and behaviour was being discussed months ago. Of course ,we were told reports of sexual harrassment and rape were right wing propoganda, and anyone who was alarmed were simply being racist.
When will the liberals fucking wake up? Western women's rights and freedoms are under attack.

There was a thread on the feminist boards a while back about how Norway is giving immigrants lessons on how to treat women. Seems reasonable idea if the west is taking in men from misogynist cultures. www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/2532206-Male-immigrants-to-Norway-given-lessons-in-how-to-treat-women

I can't believe anybody is surprised by this? I have said for months the number of sex crimes against women and girls will skyrocket with this massive influx of migrants from the Middle East. They have a complete disregard for women. Their culture is completely different to ours. Yes, it will increase racial tension, but does that mean it should just be brushed under the carpet and go unreported? Anyone who dares to speak out is slammed down as being a racist, which is utterly ridiculous. It is fact, and should be made public. We have a right to know. As the mother of a teenage daughter, I for one, find it deeply concerning and have done for many months now.

A THOUSAND men with specific intent to attack women?

My god, how terrifying.

I hope they are all found & quickly punished - at least, a very large number of them. The message must be communicated as strongly as possible.

Actually, I don't think I've ever uttered the words "send them back" but it may well be appopriate here.

HanSolo, Zazedonia - thank you for explaining, I thought it just meant nightclubs and bars.

I can't see a Guardian article, there are lots of comments attached to this one though

The Mail has this.

I can't see anything on the Independent or Telegraph either.

It'll be really hard for the authorities to decide what to do about carnival :( Calling it off is an admission of defeat. Banning people of 'middle eastern appearance' is apartheid. If women avoid it, again the bad guys have won.

I did think this would happen and believed the stories - but never imagined anything on such an horrific scale.

Of course we shouldn't be afraid to comment: it is not racist to acknowledge the depth & violence of misogyny in formally misogynistic cultures.