Cologne: Up to 1,000 men of Arab and North African origin sexually assault women

[ZuWo]

http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/koeln-nach-uebergriffen-an-silvester-polizei-geht-60-anzeigen-nach-a-1070465.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3384423/German-police-hunt-group-1-000-men-Arab-North-African-origin-sexually-assaulted-numerous-women-threw-fireworks-crowds-Cologne-train-station-New-Year-s-Eve.html

Police: 'A completely new dimension of crime'

[Ebsy]

Not a good headline, though some of the details are a bit suspect when you are citing Breitbart as a source.

[Famous Mortimer]

Sounds too fantastical to be true.

[ZuWo]

It does indeed sound too fantastical but the police, the Mayor of Cologne as well as members of te NRW government have all confirmed this.

[palandio]

At least 60 women have filed complaints over robbery, sexual harassment, sexual assault and other crimes. At least one woman has described actions that would qualify as rape.

Investigations will be complicated, but I hope that they will be at least partially successful and that at least some of the criminals will face serious punishment. Exemption from punishment would have a very detrimental effect on the public climate and this would affect many innocent Arabs and asylum seekers in a negative way.

There have been reports in the past that Cologne has an organized scene of young Moroccans that regularly rob people at night-clubs, discotheques etc. Time for the authorities to crack it down once and for good.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Those 1000 men could be hiding anywhere! Maybe they're hiding in a closet somewhere.

[Beezer]

The silence on the topic by German feminists/leftists is deafeaning.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

How horrific. Let's hope those responsible are swiftly found and dealt with, and those seeking asylum/migration are made to understand the vital importance of consent in modern German society. Although if it is Moroccans (rather than Syrians etc.) then it's a high chance these are second-generation migrants, which suggests something has gone disturbingly wrong with local integration in the area.

I do worry about Cologne though. Isn't it Koln where a mayoral candidate got stabbed by a nazi? And now they are apparently the epicentre of an organised rape gang? This could be a pretty ominous sign.

[DavidB.]

"Wir schaffen das!"

[rob in cal]

   I love one of the headlines on yahoo news, saying people are "stunned" by this. Hopefully it is receiving a big amount of media coverage to help educate people about the multi-dimensional aspect of what potentially happens when you add a lot of diversity to your country.

[DavidB.]

Fortunately, Cologne's mayor Henriette Reker has a solution for this. She advised women to keep "an arm's length" distance from "strangers". Blaming the victim gone wild... I am also not sure how these women were exactly supposed to prevent these men from assaulting them by keeping them at an arm's length in a big crowd.

I truly wonder how the left will desperately try to excuse this kind of victim blaming this time, especially considering their views regarding sexual harassment, intimidation and violence on American college campuses. I expect a case of "soft bigotry of low expectations".

[Zioneer]

How horrific. Let's hope those responsible are swiftly found and dealt with, and those seeking asylum/migration are made to understand the vital importance of consent in modern German society. Although if it is Moroccans (rather than Syrians etc.) then it's a high chance these are second-generation migrants, which suggests something has gone disturbingly wrong with local integration in the area.

I do worry about Cologne though. Isn't it Koln where a mayoral candidate got stabbed by a nazi? And now they are apparently the epicentre of an organised rape gang? This could be a pretty ominous sign.

Completely agree. Those responsible need to be dealt with to the full extent of the law, there needs to be an examination of why this happened, and steps need to be taken to make sure it doesn't happen again. I happen to disagree with our forum anti-migrants on what specific steps need to be taken, but I do agree that these guys have done something very wrong, and at least need to be taught the meaning of consent.

[dead0man]

At least!

[Tender Branson]

They were probably traumatized by the New Year's fireworks.

That's why they raped and abused all these women. I can't think of any better explanation ...

[rob in cal]

    I wonder how many of these men were single, with no significant female relationship in their lives. 

[Zioneer]

At least!

Well, as I said, they need to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, but in addition to that, they also need to be taught the meaning and value of consent, and if they're repeat offenders, need to face serious charges.

[Cory]

I truly wonder how the left will desperately try to excuse this kind of victim blaming this time, especially considering their views regarding sexual harassment, intimidation and violence on American college campuses. I expect a case of "soft bigotry of low expectations".

[Frodo]

they need to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, but in addition to that, they also need to be taught the meaning and value of consent, and if they're repeat offenders, need to face serious charges.

[Tender Branson]

This is also something that Trump could use in his next ads:

"Recently in Germany: hordes of illegal Arab/African migrants rape and abuse native German women. With Donald Trump as President, this won't happen. I will cleanse America from these Muslim mass rapists, take their oil money and deport them. I will make AmeriKKKa white great again !".

[Middle-aged Europe]

It does indeed sound too fantastical but the police, the Mayor of Cologne as well as members of te NRW government have all confirmed this.

They didn't.

There is confirmation of about 40 perpetrators, not 1,000.

Not that this makes it much better, but the title of this thread is wrong and should be changed accordingly.

[Middle-aged Europe]

The silence on the topic by German feminists/leftists is deafeaning.

There's no silence from German feminists/leftists I am aware of. In fact, I'm reading not much else at the moment. But you're probably friends with the wrong people in Facebook then. Something you shouldn't blame leftists for IMO.


So, for your information, here are some links on the topic:

https://www.gruene.de/themen/frauenpolitik/2016/koeln-gruene-fordern-aufklaerung-und-bestrafung-der-taeter.html

https://gruene-nrw.de/presse/uebergriffe-in-koeln-sexuelle-gewalt-ist-eingriff-in-grundrechte/

https://www.facebook.com/GoeringEckardt/posts/10153298411955592

http://www.linksfraktion.de/pressemitteilungen/es-darf-keine-angstraeume-unseren-staedten-gemeinden-geben/?rss

https://www.facebook.com/KatjaKipping/posts/1077847905580535?fref=nf

[Beezer]

They, along with the mainstream media, stayed quiet on this topic for 3 whole days hoping it would blow over because the perpetrators weren't white cisprivileged men. And then Claudia Roth came out to argue that this incident shouldn't be allowed to be used for anti-foreigner purposes (sane enough), while simultaneously making the case that this mass molestation constituted a problem pertaining to men in general ("Hier geht es um Männergewalt").

So sexism and attacking all men is ok but making the case that people from a certain cultural realm are more likely to treat women like dirt is unacceptable.

[Middle-aged Europe]

They, along with the mainstream media, stayed quiet on this topic for 3 whole days hoping it would blow over because the perpetrators weren't white cisprivileged men.

That's a slanderous assumption which comes awfully close to being a conspiracy theory.

The fact is that this wasn't widespread knowledge to politicians until yesterday... even the Cologne Police seems to have been unaware of and suprised by it until the media started to report on it. And when it was first reported it was blown out of proportions by the media ("1,000 men" and so).

[DavidB.]

Some politicians' Pavlov to blame German society or "Männergewalt" is as naive and nonsensical as it gets. Sure, there are problems with domestic violence and sexism in Western societies and in German society, but you have to be pretty dense not to understand that men from Middle Eastern cultures are generally simply a lot more sexist, especially regarding women who dress in a Western way.

Göring-Eckardt's reply was just fine, but Katja Kipping's was extremely typically apologetic. Third sentence: "Sexismus ist keine Import-Ware aus dem Ausland, sondern Bestandteil dieser Gesellschaft selbst." Could be, but that's entirely besides the point in this case. Denying in the face of evidence the fact that male migrants from the Middle East, whether recent migrants or citizens, do statistically engage much more often in (sexual) violence against women is just naive. Doing so will not make anybody more accepting of migrants. Time for political parties to state that if you want to live in Germany, you need to abide the law and either leave your prejudices toward woman, gays etc. behind or keep them for yourselves -- and if not, there will be no place for you in Germany. Seems to be the only way to me.

[Clark Kent]

Heard it on NPR this morning, so it seems to be true.

they need to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, but in addition to that, they also need to be taught the meaning and value of consent, and if they're repeat offenders, need to face serious charges.