MORE THAN 100 WOMEN HAVE COME FORWARD IN HAMBURG AND COLOGNE,
GERMANY, WITH ALLEGATIONS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT, SEXUAL
HARASSMENT AND THEFT DURING NEW
YEAR'S CELEBRATIONS IN THE COUNTRY.
THIS STORY WAS UNDER REPORTED BY THE MEDIA, AND ACCORDING TO
SOME CRITICS UNDER INVESTIGATED BY THE POLICE.
LET'S GET TO THE SPECIFICS.
"COLOGNE POLICE RECEIVED MORE THAN 100 CRIMINAL
COMPLAINTS FROM WOMEN WHO SAID THEY HAD BEEN SEXUALLY ASSAULTED
OR ROBBED BY GANGS OF MEN OF ARABIC OR AFRICAN APPEARANCE
IN THE CITY CENTER DURING NEW YEAR'S EVE FESTIVITIES."
IT SEEMS AS IF WHAT HAPPENED WAS A CONCERTED EFFORT, IT IS NOT AS
IF RANDOM MEN WERE RANDOMLY ATTACKING
WOMEN, IT SEEMED LIKE IT WAS PLANNED AND PREMEDITATED,
AND ORCHESTRATED.
"POLICE HAVE SAID THAT ABOUT A QUARTER OF THE COMPLAINTS
RELATED TO SEXUAL ASSAULTS, INCLUDING RAPE, AND THAT THEY
WERE BELIEVED THE ASSAULTS WERE PROBABLY INTENDED TO DISTRACT
THE VICTIMS WHILE THEY STOLE THEIR BELONGINGS."
OFTEN TIMES WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IS, THEY WOULD BE SEXUALLY
HARASSED IN A WAY, AND THAT
WOULD LEAD TO SOMEBODY ELSE STEALING THEIR STUFF.
THERE WERE THREE REPORTS, OR ALLEGATIONS, OF RAPE.
THE REST INVOLVED THEFT AND SEXUAL HARASSMENT.
IS IT THREE REPORTS SPECIFIC TO A GROUP OF PEOPLE?
I WOULD IMAGINE THAT IN A BIG CITY ON NEW YEAR'S EVE,
TRAGICALLY, THERE WOULD BE MORE THAN THAT.
THE THING I WANT TO BE CLEAR ABOUT IS THAT IT ALL
HAPPENED IN THE SAME AREA.
THERE WERE TWO AREAS AFFECTED, COLOGNE AND HAMBURG.
THE MAJORITY OF THESE ALLEGATIONS CAME FROM COLOGNE,
AND IT STARTED WHEN AUTHORITIES REALIZED THAT PEOPLE WERE USING
FIREWORKS IN AN UNSAFE WAY, SO THEY EVACUATED THE AREA
REALIZING THAT PEOPLE COULD BE INJURED, BUT THEN A GROUP OF MEN
CAME BACK ANYWAY, AND THE POLICE DID NOTHING ABOUT IT, AND
THAT IS WHEN THE ASSAULTS TOOK PLACE.
WE HAVE A FEW VIDEOS FOR YOU, AND THE FIRST ONE IS THE
SUM OF THE VICTIMS TALKING ABOUT WHAT THEY EXPERIENCED AND
WHAT THEY SAW.
ONLY IDENTIFYING HERSELF AS LENDER, THIS VICTIM SAID
SHE IS TOO AFRAID TO GO OUT ALONE, AND STILL HAS NIGHTMARES.
I GOT A LITTLE TIME IN A CROWD THEY COULD KILL US
AND NOBODY WOULD NOTICE.
I JUST WANTED TO GET OUT.
OTHER WOMEN SAID THEY AGREED, THERE WAS NO ONE TO HELP THEM.
WE RAN TO THE POLICE, BUT WE SAW THE POLICE WERE UNDERSTAFFED.
THEY COULD NOT TAKE CARE OF US, AND WE AS WOMEN PAID THE PRICE.
SIMILAR ATTACKS WERE REPORTED IN HAMBURG ON NEW YEAR'S EVE,
WITH THIRTY-NINE REPORTED SEXUAL ASSAULTS AND FOURTEEN ROBBERIES.
THIS IS AN INCREDIBLE STORY.
THERE ARE THOSE WHO WANT TO LOOK AT A TERRIBLE STORY LIKE
THIS FROM A RATIONAL, LOGICAL PERSPECTIVE.
NOT JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS, AND FIGURE OUT WHAT IS GOING ON.
SO FAR, THREE PEOPLE ARE BEING INVESTIGATED, AND THEY ARE
IN CUSTODY.
WE DON'T KNOW WHO THEY ARE AND WHAT THEIR BACKGROUND IS.
THE ACCUSATIONS THAT POLICE ARE NOT DOING ENOUGH, I FEEL LIKE
THEY MIGHT BE TRUE, BECAUSE IT IS DECEMBER ñ IT IS JANUARY 6.
ALSO, IF THEY EVACUATED THAT AREA BECAUSE OF THE FIREWORKS,
I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY THEY ALLOWED PEOPLE TO COME BACK,
AND THEY DID NOT DO ANYTHING TO MAKE SURE THE CROWD WAS SAFE.
THIS SOUNDS LIKE WHAT YOU HEAR ABOUT IN SOME AREAS OF
THE WORLD WHERE THEY WILL USE PETTY THINGS, DISTRACTING
YOU, TOUCHING YOU, TO HAVE YOU FOCUS ON THAT SO THAT YOU
CAN THEN BE ROBBED.
THE REAL PROBLEM, I THINK, IS ñ AND LOOK, I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE
POLICE HAVE BEEN DOING IN RESPONSE TO THIS, IT HAS BEEN
FIVE DAYS, IT IS HARD TO IMAGINE ANY NEW LEADS POPPING UP.
BUT IF THEY ARE USING LARGE CROWDS OF PEOPLE TO HIDE IN
PLAIN SIGHT, AND IF THEY THEN DISPERSE AND
IT
IS NEW YEAR'S
EVE
AND IT IS NIGHTTIME,
THAT BECOMES INCREDIBLY
DIFFICULT TO
TRACK THEM DOWN.