Berlin to have ‘safety zone’ for women at New Year celebrations
Move comes following mass assaults two years ago at Cologne carried out by groups consisting mostly of migrants; police union head warns plan sends ‘devastating message’
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
Organizers of the biggest New Year’s eve party in Berlin will set up safe zones for women who feel threatened or have been assaulted, the Guardian newspaper reported Saturday.
The move comes after hundreds of women were assaulted in Cologne during New Year’s celebrations two years ago by an aggressive and drunken crush of around 1,000 men, described by witnesses as mostly of Arab and North African appearance.
The head of a German police union, Rainer Wendt, criticized the move, saying establishing such an area sends a “devastating message” that women aren’t safe from assault outside of it.
In an interview with the Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung daily, Wendt was quoted Saturday as saying the move appeared to ignore the “political dimension” in Germany.
Hundreds of women filed complaints of harassment or assault, often of a sexual nature, in 2015. There were also two allegations of rape. The incident unsettled Germany, which had recently taken in over 1 million refugees.
Thousands are expected to attend the event Sunday in front of the Brandenburg Gate in the heart of the city.
Berlin police told the Guardian that this year women would be able to seek help in an area staffed by the German Red Cross.
“The organizers have set up a safety zone for women who have been victims of a sexual offense or are feeling harassed,” a police statement said.
Anja Marx, a spokeswoman for the event, said there would be a tented area with psychologists on hand.
“We are doing this for the first time,” she said by phone. “The police requested it after they did it at the Munich Oktoberfest this year and it worked out well,” she said adding that there were no previous problems at the Berlin events.
The Cologne events caused outrage and led to the firing of the police chief. After having initially reported a “peaceful” night, Cologne police were slow to report the true extent of the carnage, and the politically charged fact that the hostile crowd was made up mostly of migrants.
The spate of assaults has inflamed a heated public debate about Germany’s ability to integrate the nearly 1.1 million asylum seekers it took in that year.
Right-wing populists charged that Chancellor Angela Merkel’s liberal migration policy has fueled crime and destabilized society.
The Times of Israel Community.