New Year attacks on women in Germany (2015/16)

Among the first and most significant incidents are robberies , sexual harassment and rape (two cases reported) ^[9] . A crowd of 1,000 men, mostly North Africans, who attacked women, joined the crowd of celebrating citizens. ^[10] The city police received more than 650 applications by January 12 ^[11] .

In addition to Cologne, similar incidents took place both in other German cities ( Berlin , Hamburg , Dusseldorf , Stuttgart ) ^[12] , and in Switzerland ( Zurich ) and Austria ( Salzburg ) ^{[13] [14]} .

The German Federal Criminal Police Office has promised to study the taharrush phenomenon ^[15] , which in Arab countries means collective sexual harassment : young men surround a woman, start shouting obscene things, trying to touch and take personal items. Such cases were reported, for example, during the revolution in Egypt , where from 2011 to June 2014, 250 women, including foreign correspondents, were raped in Tahrir Square ^[16] . According to the police, in Germany such incidents have not yet been recorded ^[17] .

The effect of the scandal was reinforced by the fact that the police hid the true extent of what happened for several days, the German media did not immediately respond to the situation ^[18] , and the mayor of Cologne, Henrieta Recker, advised German women to change their behavior in public places - “walk in groups” and “Keep the distance of an outstretched arm” ^[19] , which caused a flurry of criticism and jokes ^[20] . On January 10, migrants from Syria and Pakistan underwent armed attacks in Cologne. According to local press reports, nationalist -minded youth unites through social networks to arrange a “people hunt” on the streets of the city; The media connect these events with the recent attacks of migrants on women in various cities in Germany. Chancellor Angela Merkel in connection with the exacerbation of the criminal situation canceled a visit to the economic forum in Davos .

German Chancellor Angela Merkel made a special statement on the situation in the country ^[21] . Cologne Police Head Wolfgang Albers retired early ^[22] .

Demonstrations were held in a number of German cities that condemned the attacks, some of them also had an anti-immigration focus ^[23] , and some called for opposing hostile attitudes towards migrants. A separate rally against attacks, sexism and racism was held by Syrian and Afghan refugees ^[24] .

Politicians of the Eastern European countries of the EU also responded to these events ^[25] .

Cologne police believe that on New Year's Eve for 2017 prevented a recurrence of last year's riots. 650 people, mainly from North Africa, were stopped on their way to the city center; 29 people were detained ^[26] . 300 people were removed from a train at a nearby station, the police identify 1300 people ^[27] . Police outfits were increased by another 200 employees (almost 1,500 in total) - the Cologne police sought at all costs to avoid the failure that they experienced last year ^[28] .

• Similar attacks against women were repeated on the night of January 1 in the western part of Innsbruck (Austria). More than a dozen women contacted the police with allegations of sexual harassment; Austrian police are investigating a record number of sexual assaults. ^[29]

• Taharrush
• The Case of Lisa F.

• Alexander Varkentin. New Year's emergency in Cologne: 5 facts about how it was (neopr.) . Deutsche Welle (01/06/2016). Date of treatment January 13, 2016.
• Sergey Debrer. New bastards (neopr.) . “Russian Germany” (01/08/2016). Date of treatment January 13, 2016.
• Ksenia Melnikova. Crime of a new scale (neopr.) . Lenta.ru (January 8, 2016). Date of treatment January 13, 2016.
• Anastasia Novikova. Thousands of people on the streets of Leipzig demanded the resignation of Merkel (neopr.) . Komsomolskaya Pravda (January 12, 2016). Date of treatment January 13, 2016.