A managerial official of the Federal Police described the situation of the police officers during the operation at the Cologne Central Station as "chaotic and shameful". He cited too few staff and weaknesses in the equipment as two of the main problems.
The police of Cologne issued a press release on New Year's Day which was headlined "Ausgelassene Stimmung – Feiern weitgehend friedlich" ("Boisterous spirits – Parties mostly peaceful"). One day later, they finally put out a press release in which they reported on a series of attacks on women.
The chief constable of Cologne has been retired after severe criticism.
I wonder if a Pym Fortuyn type political leader will emerge out of this. Someone who might come from a socially liberal political stance but who fears that the ethnic cultural and religious transformation of Germany is not good for such social liberalism.
I hope so.
Today in Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf: In German town Weil am Rhein, near the Dutch border, two girls of 14 and 15 years old were raped by four Syrian asylum seekers -- one of them, Ahmad O., being a 14-year old (!) asylum seeker in the Netherlands. After being raped for an hour, the two girls liberated themselves and called the police.
Weil am Rhein is actually not close to the Dutch border. It's located at the point where the borders of Germany, France and Switzerland meet.
Similar cases of sexual assaults committed by what victims have described as clearly foreign individuals were reported in other German cities such as Hamburg and Stuttgart as well as in Zurich, though at a considerably smaller scale.
You can add Frankfurt, Salzburg and Helsinki to that list.
