Attacks on Women in Germany Heighten Tension Over Migrants - speechless

[GummyBearz]

BERLIN — The tensions simmering beneath Germany’s willingness to take in one million migrants blew into the open on Tuesday after reports that scores of young women in Cologne had been groped and robbed on New Year’s Eve by gangs of men described by the authorities as having “a North African or Arabic” appearance.

Taking advantage of the New Year’s Eve street party, hundreds of young men broke into groups and formed rings around young women, refusing to let them escape, the authorities said. Some groped victims while others stole wallets or cellphones.

Witnesses described the atmosphere around the city’s central train station as aggressive and threatening, with firecrackers being thrown into the crowd. The women who were attacked screamed and tried to fight their way free, a man who had struggled to protect his girlfriend told German public television.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/06/world/europe/coordinated-attacks-on-women-in-cologne-were-unprecedented-germany-says.html?smid=pl-share

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35231046

[leftynyc]

1. This wont help the

innocent immigrants at all. It's almost as if these animals who attacked these women are trying to get the German government to stop taking in refugees.

[bighart]

2. I doubt that had much to do with the motivation for these attacks

Some people are just vile and take advantage of a situation.

[leftynyc]

3. I know it wasn't their motivation

I was just pointing out they are going to get the exact same result as if they were getting paid by right wingers to cause this. These animals are simply animals and they walk among us every single day.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

4. They're not animals - they are part of a sexist, misogynistic culture

that represses women, and makes Ted Cruz look progressive regarding gay rights.

Fuck that crap.

[sufrommich]

6. +1. nt

[pampango]

8. As long as we don't stereotype all Syrians or all Muslims are having the same beliefs or

sharing a collective guilt for the actions of a minority of their groups.

The police there said that recently-arrived refugees had nothing to do with this. We should not blame or punish them for the actions a minority of young men. (The German far-right will do plenty of that without any help from liberals.) The perpetrators should be arrested and punished no matter who they are or where they from.

[Yo_Mama]

23. The police have not identified or charged one perp yet. One policeman who had grabbed 8 suspects

said they were all holders of asylum papers.

Most of the men in the crowd were not attacking anyone, but there has been increasing robbery activity in the area and they do indeed appear to be in immigrant groups.

German officials are now breaking the code of silence.
https://translate.google.de/translate?sl=de&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=de&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.faz.net%2Faktuell%2Fpolitik%2Fsexuelle-uebergriffe-in-koeln-das-ganze-scheint-abgesprochen-gewesen-zu-sein-13999522.html&edit-text=

It is very likely that no one will be charged for these attacks.

The reality is that the German police have literally been ignoring minor criminality among refugees and now this is catching up to them. The mayor is making the whole thing astonishingly worse by her inept remarks.

[leftynyc]

20. Also true

but they behave like animals so I call them animals.

[DFW]

5. The mayor of Köln should re-examine her statement

"Ms. Reker said that city officials would work to help women protect themselves and to explain the city’s attitudes and norms to newcomers."

It is not the responsibility of the women of Germany to suddenly all become self-defense experts. It was the responsibility of the authorities to prepare the new arrivals, in their own languages, for Germany's "attitudes and norms" BEFORE releasing them into the public at large.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

7. I really don't know what Merkel is doing to her country

Most of the immigrants are not prepared for work and don't speak German. They don't have the infrastructure to take in so many.

There are communities and small villages that are now seriously outnumbered by immigrants (majority of whom are male) and the Germans who once welcomed them are now quite fearful. How can you put 700 immigrants in a village of 200 people - immigrants who don't have a job, don't speak German, hate the food, hate the weather, are bored out of their minds, hate their cramped warehouse accommodations and not realize that the assholes in the group are going to behave badly. Yeah, that's what is currently happening across Germany. The powers that be have left the locals defensively and helpless - not to mention the immigrants. The immigrants are receiving no aid (language classes, education, preparation for work) to help them function independently in society because all levels of government are overwhelmed.

They have a rocky, rocky road ahead of them, and I fear it will get worse before it gets better.

[tabasco]

9. Cheap labor.

The same reason we never do anything about illegal immigration in the USA except talk about it.

[LisaL]

11. Are they actually working? Or is government paying them benefits?

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

12. They're being warehoused and fed while the government

figures out what to do with them. And they get some sort of a stipend, but I don't remember how much.

It's not a good situation.

[GummyBearz]

13. Cheap labor how? By the things I've read they are not employed.

[LisaL]

14. Exactly. They are supported instead.

So it has nothing to do with cheap labor.

[tabasco]

17. They will be.

At very low paying jobs.

[oberliner]

15. That is definitely not true

In fact, the situations are 100 percent opposite from one another.

[tabasco]

18. Do you think allowing a million desperate immigrants into a country overnight

will have the net effect to increase wages? Interestng theory.

[oberliner]

19. No, I don't

But Syrian refugees are not being brought in to Germany for cheap labor.

[Yo_Mama]

24. The business community in Germany is strongly in favor of the immigrant policies because they

need labor. That's true.

[LisaL]

10. Allowing a huge number of people from a different culture into your country, unless prepared to

support them for life, is asking for trouble.

[davidn3600]

22. And no one wants to discuss that

Suggesting the immigrants should have to change or even respect the laws and culture of the native population is now considered racist or xenophobic.

Plopping this many people of a different culture there and not expecting a culture clash is ignorance. It's going to be a major long term problem. For some reason this problem isn't even acknowledged by the left.

[smirkymonkey]

21. She obviously didn't think this through. Germany is going to have a disaster on their hands.

I see nothing good coming from this. Not for the refugees, nor for the people of Germany.

[hedgehog]

16. This is reminiscent of events in Cairo during the Arab Spring:

"On 15 February 2011, CBS News released a statement that Logan had been beaten and sexually assaulted on 11 February, while covering the celebrations in Tahrir Square following Hosni Mubarak's resignation.[19] CBS 60 Minutes broadcast an interview with her about it on 1 May 2011; she said she was speaking out because of the prevalence of sexual assault in Egypt, and to break the silence about the sexual violence women reporters are reluctant to report in case it prevents them from doing their jobs.[20][21]

She said the incident involved 200–300 men and lasted around 25 minutes. "

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lara_Logan