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

And this is Cologne. First world country.

And it's the 21st century, not 1350.

This is yet another reason we need more women in politics, because let's face it, men don't really seem to give a fuck about women. And that's men who were raised in a civil society.

So who knows what it will be like when these men from North Africa and the like eventually enter politics, because they eventually will.

toffee Angela Merkel is the one who started this. I don't suppose she's solely responsible but she's in charge.
Not to mention there's plenty of women who are only too ready to throw other women under the bus. Apparently quite a few ploiticians are socio- or psychopaths, so don't expect great things from them.

toffee because the liberalists will say that these men are unaccustomed to our ways and just need to be educated then they will all turn into good, honest citizens. Or maybe it was the women's fault for showing too much flesh.

noeffingidea what I meant was it IS bloody ridiculous in a western/first world/democratic city, that this could happen.

Though the women in Egypt and other countries need to be empowered to do something about this cretins. Its the women bringing their sons into the world, then believing they are second class (if even) citizens to them.

I know, noeffing. Women can be as dangerous as men. I think Angela will come to heartily regret her decisions... Or maybe no.

Moreshabby, I agree. Soon women will be encouraged to cover up, which makes my blood boil. Women have come so far but I we are about to fly right back.

I live in Cologne and hadn't heard a thing about this until today.

The train station is not particularly nice, but neither is it a red light district. In fact, it's directly next to the cathedral and main tourist area.

I didn't get the impression this had been hushed up, more that it had taken a few days for the women to come forward and for the police to put it all together.

Germany certainly does have rules against large gatherings, to whoever said it didn't!

There was a very large right wing demonstration and many counter demonstrations here a couple of months ago. It was very strongly policed after a demo got out of hand in 2014, when the police underestimated numbers attending.

I have no idea what went on on NYE but to suggest that Germany allows or is more likely to tolerate this sort if thing is in my view incorrect.

I don't see any suggestion in ANY press that the men are refugees, so to assume so is rather putting the cart before the horse.

There is a large population here of Middle Eastern and North African people, who have lived here many generations.

"Send them back" is a little silly.

And yes, interesting to see what will happen with Karneval. It's quite normal for 250,000 people to be on the streets for 4 days solid drinking.

"This is yet another reason we need more women in politics, because let's face it, men don't really seem to give a fuck about women. And that's men who were raised in a civil society.'
If only it were so simple. Germany has a female Kanzler, yet this is happening. It's probably because women in politics (and in other sectors of society) operate within a male dominated culture, even here in Europe, where women do have more rights but sexism is commonplace regardless. So in order to make it to the top and become influential women have to play the game, the rules for which have been shaped by men over hundreds thousands of years.

"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?"

I have never been to Reeperbahn so can't answer but someone else upthread answered this i think. I do know what brainfog is though which explains why i didn't read the reference to ethnicity in the BBc article .

Just to clear possible misunderstandings up - the BBC article refers to several attacks, of which the most serious was in Cologne, near the railway station. The Reeperbahn is in Hamburg, and is Hamburg's red light district (not that this makes it any better - no woman should be subjected to sexual assault).

There was one article linked further up which mentioned that 8 men were arrested and all were asylum seekers and showed their papers or something....

From local Cologne news:

140 police in total in that area, and 70 at the station itself, however some were sent to the Innenstadt at some point during the evening because of incidents there (big drinking area)

Police had no idea it was going to happen before it happened, ie no intel. Police Chief called it a "new experience".

Around 90 women have come forward.

No one arrested as no victims or witnesses are able to identify anyone.

For Karneval extra police will be drafted in, also looking at the possibility of more CCTV.

This is from the bbc article

"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."

I am surprised and pleased that this has become a busy thread as topics in News often get overlooked. I agree with a pp who likened this to a flash mob style operation.

"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."

This reminds me of the Netflix TV show Lilyhammer where an American ex Mafia guy (Steven Van Zandt) goes to compulsory integration classes where the teacher is trying to teach the Norwegian way of life to immigrants not very successfully it was very funny.

I think the dangerous attitudes to women are so deeply ingrained in these men that integration classes would probably not be very effective but maybe it would be about making a point. Does anyone know if the British citizenship test includes any questions on equal rights for women or the women's liberation?

Der Spiegel are calling it "a new dimension of organised crime"

Unfortunately, this will be under-reported, not solely because women were the targets and the misogyny of the system, but also to downplay the fact that those involved were of a particular ethnic (and, probably, though not necessarily) religious origin. As Nazir Afsal said, though, it's not religion doing this, it's culture, and this toxic culture needs to be confronted. He also says quite regularly, though, that he has a freedom to speak out that others don't necessarily, being a British Asian. I know he's gone from the CPS, and I have heard some of the rumours why, but I still think he is an amazing and honourable man for the way he has tackled misogyny in all its forms in the UK.

I don't see any suggestion in ANY press that the men are refugees, so to assume so is rather putting the cart before the horse. There is a large population here of Middle Eastern and North African people, who have lived here many generations Why now, then?

I think you're going down the wrong path. The men involved didn't do it because they thought it was right. They did it because they knew it was wrong. The intention was to abuse and cause crime.

I don't see anyone suggesting that the men didn't KNOW it was wrong, as suggested by posters who think it stems from their (possible) outlook on women from other cultures.

why now what?

I'm saying that you can "send back" an indigenous, although minority, population.

Yes hefzi, I think it might well be downplayed because of the ethnic and religious origin of the perpetrators.

But we had MASSIVE race riots a couple of months ago and again in 2014, so to be honest I'm happy for the newspapers to play down the ethnic angle if it keeps the fucking neo Nazi bully boys off my streets.

<a class="break-all" href="https://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=www.welt.de/&prev=search" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">google translate version of Die Welt article

This covers the timeline of events - it's a bit garbled (but better than my attempts to read German). Seems there's controversy in Germany as to whether it was simply that the police failed to connect up separate reports on the night and it's therefore taken several days for the full picture to emerge, or whether there's some sort of cover up (I assume this is what's meant by the German idiom which google translates as "below the ceiling").

They think they have the right.

onthephone oh no, I'm definitely not in favour of the extreme Right either, and their hideous tactics: but I don't think that it's possible to divorce what has happened from these men's culture, and that is what I think should be spoken out about.

Problem is, when you get someone like Nigel Farage saying he doesn't want any more immigrants in the UK threatening our way of life, it's mainly women who shout him down & call him racist, ignorant, etc. You can't have it both ways.
& I agree with the poster who said eventually these men will enter our political system & we'll be forced to 'cover up'.

I agree with you phone. They did it because they could and they wanted to.

The scale is of the harassment is new but ethnic men harassing girls and women in German, or France...... that's old news unfortunately.

In a way I am surprised that these were asylum seekers because I would have thought that they'd be a bit more carful so not to jeopardise their asylum applications. Maybe they were illegal immigrants. I know that parts of the Turkish 'community' of immigrants in its third or fourth generation can be very chauvinistic indeed. these are men who were born in Germany and went to school there.