Berlin creates ‘safe zone’ against sexual assaults for New Year’s Eve
This year, New Year's Eve celebrations in Berlin, Germany, will include a "safe zone" for women for the first time ever, organisers say.
Published: December 30, 2017, 5:20 am
The Brandenburg Gate party will have new security measures in place to counter sexual assaults in a bid to avoid the large number of assaults and robberies that marred Cologne’s New Year’s Eve celebrations two years ago.
The events in Cologne were ignored by authorities initially, heightening tensions further over the large influx of migrants into Germany in 2015.
Hundreds of women reported being sexually attacked by gangs of migrant men, but politicians tried to downplay the crimes.
Women who have been assaulted or feel harassed will be able to find support at the “safe zone” on Ebertstrasse, staffed by the German Red Cross.
The city’s police have also issued warnings to women to carry a small bag with no valuables as hundreds of thousands of people are expected to attend the New Year’s Eve party on Sunday.
Large bags, including rucksacks, will be banned as well as alcoholic drinks during the event.
A special safe zone for women at large public events has not been welcomed by some critics. They say perpetrators of sexual violence should be singled out instead, while others complain it is “discriminatory”.
Cologne officials set up a “security point”, staffed by social workers and psychologists, at the city’s 2016 carnival following the New Year’s Eve attacks.
The Cologne police chief Juergen Mathies also said at the time that “the identities of 650 people were checked of whom, based on police officers’ assessments, around 98 to 99 per cent – almost all of them – were from North Africa”.
He told the BBC that the mass questioning of North Africans were done “because we recognised corresponding aggressive behaviour amongst them”.
Several cases of exhibitionism meanwhile, have recently been reported in Augsburg. Migrant men have been exposing themselves on busses, street trams and regional trains, including harassing young children.
Augsburg police are currently investigating two alleged serial perpetrators. The men, a Syrian and an Afghan asylum seeker, have been taken into preliminary detention, while a third exhibitionist is still being sought.
One of the suspects, a 20-year-old Afghan, confessed to four instances of exhibitionism, according to a police spokesman.
The man exposed himself in street trams in front of girls. All of the victims are only ten and eleven years old, the Augsburger Allgemeiner reported.
The arrest of the suspect came thanks to the alertness of a criminal investigations officer, and a chance meeting. The investigator went downtown in his spare time on Friday. As he is professionally concerned with the case, he knew the images from the surveillance cameras of the street trams that show the suspect.
The officer accidentally encountered the 20-year-old and recognized him. He informed his colleagues and they arrested the man, who did not resist, near Curt Frenzel Stadion.
On Saturday, police caught a second man, who is allegedly responsible for at least seven cases of exhibitionism. He is a 32-year-old Syrian. He has not confessed yet. But police think that the man harassed mainly young girls and women — also on public transport, especially in Oberhausen.
The 32-year-old did not just expose himself, but also touched the victims. The youngest victim is ten years old. He allegedly also exposed himself before three boys between the ages of ten and eleven years.
The case of the 30-year-old black African, who always had a white tablet PC with him during his deeds, have not yet been resolved, however. The search for him is continuing.
All rights reserved. You have permission to quote freely from the articles provided that the source (www.freewestmedia.com) is given. Photos may not be used without our consent.
Consider donating to support our work
Help us to produce more articles like this. FreeWestMedia is depending on donations from our readers to keep going. With your help, we expose the mainstream fake news agenda.
Keep your language polite. Readers from many different countries visit and contribute to Free West Media and we must therefore obey the rules in, for example, Germany. Illegal content will be deleted.
If you have been approved to post comments without preview from FWM, you are responsible for violations of any law. This means that FWM may be forced to cooperate with authorities in a possible crime investigation.
If your comments are subject to preview by FWM, please be patient. We continually review comments but depending on the time of day it can take up to several hours before your comment is reviewed.
We reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive, contain slander or foul language, or are irrelevant to the discussion.
NOAA Predicts Zero Sunspots for Almost the Whole 2030s
CLIMATEThe United States' government scientific organization, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), predicts zero sunspots from 2031 to 2040. This is an extreme situation that has not occurred in as long as humanity has been counting sunspots, and it leads us into uncharted territory in terms of our solar system. However, this prediction aligns with the warnings of the world-renowned solar researcher Valentina Zharkova for many years, who indicated in 2019 various signs of this catastrophic phenomenon, including the extreme hailstorms we have seen in Europe and the world this summer. The forecast and various observations this year give cause for very significant concern. In this unique analysis, Free West Media explains why.
European Nationalist Parties Forge Cooperation Ahead of EU Elections
EUROPEAN ELECTIONSOn Saturday, August 26, representatives of six European nationalist parties gathered in Budapest. The meeting was initiated by the Hungarian party Mi Hazánk and took place in the national parliament. Representatives of the parties signed a joint declaration that not only reaffirms the parties' friendship but also their unity on a range of complex political issues. A surprisingly clear and radical manifesto was established. The hope is that this cooperation will lead to success in the EU elections and eventually result in the formation of a group in the European Parliament. For Swedish nationalism, this meeting marks a success as Sweden, for the first time, has a party represented in a leading nationalist cooperation in Europe. Free West Media was present at this historic event.
Turkey Believes Sweden Hasn’t Done Enough
Sweden will have to wait a bit longer for NATO membership, according to Turkey's Justice Minister Jilmaz Tunc. First, Sweden must extradite the "terrorists" Turkey wants and stop the desecration of the Quran.
Swedish Weapon Takes Down Russia’s Best Attack Helicopter
The Russian attack helicopter Ka-52 is considered one of the world's best and has struck fear in Ukraine, where it has hunted down tanks and other armored vehicles, often beyond the range of many light anti-aircraft systems. However, it has met its match in the Swedish air defense missile system RBS 70, which has quickly led to significant losses for the Russian helicopter forces.
Strong Confidence in German AfD
Alternative for Germany (AfD) held a party conference on July 29-30 to select candidates for the upcoming EU election next year. EU Parliament member Maximilian Krah, belonging to the party's more radical, ethnonationalist faction, was appointed as the top candidate. The party's two spokespersons delivered powerful speeches criticizing the EU's failed migration policy and trade sanctions that isolate Europe and Germany from the rest of the world. They argued that it's time for the EU to return a significant portion of its power to national parliaments. However, they have dropped the demand for Germany to exit the EU.
The Establishment Wants to Ban Germany’s Second Largest Party – for the Sake of Democracy
The rising popularity of AfD has raised strong concerns within the establishment. Despite lies and demonization in the media and isolation from the overall political establishment, the party continues to grow. Certain representatives of the party are accused of becoming increasingly "extreme," and in an unusual move, the influential weekly newspaper Der Spiegel demanded that AfD be "banned."
Dutch FvD break through the media blockade
What is happening in the Netherlands? It is often difficult to follow events in other countries, especially when distorted by system media. We give Forum for Democracy (FvD) the opportunity to speak out on the political situation in the Netherlands and the staunch resistance they face in trying to save the country.
The Ursula von der Leyen Affair
After a criminal complaint in Belgium against the President of the European Commission, the so-called SMS-case, now takes a new turn. The judge responsible for the investigation will likely gain access to the secret messages exchanged between Ursula von der Leyen and Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, at least if they haven't been deleted.
Publisher of Unique Literature Worldwide Blocked by International Distributor
Arktos has distinguished itself by publishing groundbreaking philosophers and social critics. Now, the publisher's international distributor has abruptly terminated the cooperation, and more than 400 already printed titles cannot reach their audience. There is strong evidence that the distributor has been under pressure, something that has also happened in Sweden. We have spoken with Arktos founder Daniel Friberg about the ongoing struggle for freedom of speech in a shrinking cultural corridor.
Care prompts bishops to criticize transgender ideology
The Catholic bishops of the Scandinavian countries presented an open five-page letter criticizing transgender ideology on March 21, just before Easter. The document primarily expresses care and advice and was read aloud in Catholic churches in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, and Iceland. Cardinal Anders Arborelius, Bishop of Stockholm, is one of the signatories of the document.