TOURISTS CANCEL TRIPS TO COLOGNE AFTER CLAIMS OF 1000 MEN ATTACKING 100 WOMEN ON NEW YEAR'S EVE
Tourists have cancelled trips to Cologne in fear of losing ‘life and
limb’, after allegations of 1,000 men attacking more than 100 women in
the city centre on New Year's Eve.The attacks, allegedly carried out by a 1,000-strong drunk, male crowd, resulted in two reports of rape, according to reports in Der Spiegel. The hotel and restaurant industry in Cologne recorded a large number of people calling up and querying how safe the city is, with one tour group cancelling their summer plans completely.
Germany's Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere strongly criticised the way police dealt with the attacks. "The police shouldn't work like this," he said, as reports that the police barely intervened during the attacks came to light. Further incidences of attacks on women were also recorded in Hamberg and Stuttgart. Mr de Maiziere condemned the police, saying they shouldn't have allowed the attackers to return to the square once it was evacuated.
One of the victims, Michelle, described how those who allegedly attacked the women were full of “hate and anger” and she and her fellow female friends had to hold hands for safety.
A 17-year-old unnamed British girl also came forward to share her story from New Year’s Eve. She told the BBC that she was in Cologne with her boyfriend.
She said, “We heard a woman screaming and crying somewhere in the midst of this crowd, appearing to be escaping from a foreign man, who was shouting back and pointing his finger at her and chasing her with his accomplices.
"Later on, we saw two men corner women at the cathedral and touch them while they were screaming for help and trying to fight back.”
Around 2am, the girl says she and her boyfriend returned to the station where the situation appeared to have worsened.
"The fights had increased, people who were drunk were throwing their bottles aimlessly and I was afraid that one would be thrown at me so I had to cover my face near the crowds," she said.
"I saw a group of older foreign men go up to a group of younger girls (they looked under 18) in the underground train and started pushing them around and touching them, and the girls stumbled near to the train tracks. But thankfully a German man stood up and defended them, so the girls were able to run away."
Police have started to identify three suspects and have confirmed that some of the alleged attackers were already known to them. However, no arrests have been made. Reports of the attacks caused widespread condemnation of Mayor Henriette Recker, who said that women should hold men at arm’s length to protect themselves. However, as more reports surfaced that the alleged attackers were mostly of north African or Middle Eastern origin, a greater number of people are turning the crisis away from an issue of violence and intimidation, and on to a question of immigration.
Tweets included those from MP Stephen Bilger from Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Party who said: “It can’t go on like this,” he tweeted. “Urgently needed: reduction of influx, secure borders, intensifying of deportations and meaningful justice.”
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