1. Events
    Cologne  Hamburg  Other cities 

2. Police response

3. Suspects and detainees
    Cologne  Other cities   Dispute over definition of 'refugee'  

4. Similar incidents
    Germany  Sexual offences at Carnival  Other countries 

5. Reactions
    Local government  Local population  Attacks against immigrants  Federal politics  Criticism of late media reporting  Media reactions  International reaction 

6. Analysis

7. See also

8. References

9. External links

• At least 497 alleged sex-related crime victims out of 1,216 alleged crime victims^{[2][3][4][5][6]}
• At least 612 alleged sex-related crimes out of 1,912 alleged crimes:
  • 509 sex-related allegations out of 1,616 allegations in Cologne^{[7][8][9][10][11]}
  • 109 sex-related allegations out of 296 allegations in Düsseldorf^[7]
  • More in other cities^{[13][14][1][16][2][18][19][2]}
  • 10 alleged rapes (included above):
  • 19 attempted rapes and 8 rapes reported to the police in Cologne^[7]
  • 2 reports of rape in Hamburg^[22]

4 convictions of non-sex-related crimes^[28]

2,000+ alleged^[5]

During the 2015/2016 New Year's Eve celebrations, an estimated 1200 women were sexually assaulted by 2000 men during mass sexual assaults, including 24 rapes, and numerous thefts in Germany, mainly in the Cologne city center. There were similar incidents at the public celebrations in Hamburg, Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart^[6] and in much smaller case numbers Bielefeld.^[31] For all of Germany, police estimated in a document leaked in 2016 that 1,200 women were sexually assaulted and that at least 2,000 men were involved, often acting in groups.{{Better source|reason=This is too vague. At what time did who exactly in “the police” estimate that? And how? Since this Washington Post article is not freely accessible (in Europe), can someone give more specifics on that “document“ or give a better source for these assumptions?|date=January 2019}}^[5]

Many of the incidents involved women being surrounded and assaulted by groups of men on the street.^[7][34] Cologne police chief Wolfgang Albers stated that the perpetrators in his city were reportedly men of "Arab or North African appearance" and said that Germany had never experienced such mass sexual assaults before.^{[8][34][9][10][39]} The attacks sparked an international outcry, a debate about women's rights - especially under Islamic dogma, the sustainability of Germany's asylum policy, and violence and sexism against women by immigrants from Arab countries and North Africa. Taking place during the European migrant crisis (see timeline), the attacks also led to a hardening of attitudes against immigration and attacks on immigrants.^[11][12]

Only a small number of the alleged perpetrators have been identified. By 9 April, police in Cologne had identified 153 suspects, 24 of whom were in investigative custody.^{[13][9][14][2][46]} Almost all of the suspects of the Cologne crimes were non-Germans; two-thirds of them from Morocco or Algeria. 68 suspects were asylum seekers; 18 were residing in Germany illegally, and the legal status of 47 others was unclear. Four suspects were underage, unaccompanied refugees.^{[14][15][16][17][18][19]} By July, four perpetrators had been convicted,^[20] and it was reported that half of the 120 outstanding suspects had been in Germany for less than a year,^[21] most of them from North Africa.^[22]

It was speculated that the assaults in Cologne were organized. Police said that some perpetrators used social media to meet for New Year's Eve celebrations,^{[23][16][58][24]} but Ralf Jäger, Minister of the Interior of North Rhine-Westphalia, said there was "so far no evidence that the perpetrators had arranged the assaults before New Year's Eve".^[16] Jürgen Mathies, the new Cologne police chief, said many of the perpetrators were from countries where they might be familiar with "this behaviour, where women are hemmed in and then abused by a large number of men at once".^[23][24] According to both Jäger and Mathies, the suspects did not come from pickpocketing or organized crime gangs.^[23][16][24]

The Cologne assaults were not reported by the national media for days, and The Local says many news outlets started reporting it only after a wave of anger on social media made covering the story unavoidable.^[66] This led to claims that the media is forced into line and was attempting to cover up crimes by immigrants.^[25] Although Cologne Mayor Henriette Reker condemned the assaults, she was strongly criticized for some of her comments and was accused of blaming the victims. Cologne's police chief, Wolfgang Albers, was transferred to provisional retirement for his handling of the situation. The police response and delayed media reaction met strong criticism from German citizens, with some placing blame on the European migrant crisis.^[26] The governments of Slovakia and the Czech Republic called for an emergency EU meeting following the assaults and various other EU governments made statements concerning the attacks.

On 7 June, a Federal Criminal Police Office report confirmed that most of the perpetrators were of North African origin and had arrived in Germany during the European migrant crisis. Investigative results about the perpetrators were congruent with witnesses' statements.^[27] Perpetrators benefited from weak criminal prosecution and low police presence. Group dynamics and personal frustration among the offenders also fuelled the crimes. The report also linked the assaults to the purported phenomenon of taharrush jamai (collective harassment)^[28] in some Arab countries.^[29]

Following the attacks, Germany updated its laws, making it easier to deport immigrants convicted of sex crimes and broadening the definition of sexual assault to include any sexual act that a victim declines through verbal or physical cues. Previously German law required a victim to physically resist their attacker^[30] (see rape in Germany).

Events

Cologne

On New Year's Eve, December 2015, witnesses reported that firecrackers were thrown into a crowd from a group of people of around 500, which had doubled in size by later that night, at the square in front of Cologne's Central Station.^[31] Following this event, groups of men exploited the confusion to rob and sexually assault people in the area and within the station.^[31][75] According to witnesses, the attackers surrounded women in groups of 30–40.^[76]

According to the Cologne police report on 2 January, the suspects mostly used sexual assault (including groping) to distract victims while robbing them of mobile phones and wallets. Police initially said that the sizes of the groups ranged from 2 to 20 people.^[32] According to a Bundeskriminalamt report released in June 2016, perpetrators acted mostly in groups of 9 up to 100 men. Groping, insults, and rape were often combined with robbery and theft.^[29]

A female undercover police officer was sexually assaulted, the offender grabbing into her pants.^[33] In other cases, the victims' underwear was torn off.^[34] Media reports included the case of an American woman, who was protected by Syrian men who formed a ring around her and then brought her to her boyfriend.^[35] One victim described a firecracker being put in the hood of her jacket while her personal belongings were stolen.^[36]

On 5 January, shortly after the assaults, Cologne mayor Henriette Reker said in a press conference that there was "no evidence that people who are residing in Cologne as refugees are amongst the perpetrators". Cologne's police president, Wolfgang Albers, stated that "the police has no knowledge about the offenders".^[37] To some, including the German Minister of Justice Heiko Maas, the assaults appeared to have been organized or coordinated, the perpetrators having arrived in large groups.^[38] Police later said that some perpetrators used social media to meet at the New Year's Eve celebrations,^{[23][16][58][24]} but Ralf Jäger, Minister of the Interior of North Rhine-Westphalia, said there was "so far no evidence that the perpetrators had arranged the assaults before New Year's Eve".^[16] According to Jäger in January and Jürgen Mathies, the new Cologne police chief in February, the suspects did not come from pickpocketing or organized crime gangs.^[23][16][24]

According to Albers, most alleged perpetrators seemed men "of Arab or North African appearance" between the ages of 15 and 35 or between 18 and 35 (news media report differently).^{[39][40][41][42]}

On 7 January, several anonymous police officers from Cologne denied statements that the police did not know the nationality of the perpetrators; they told the press that "most of them" would have been freshly arrived asylum seekers. Contradicting statements from Cologne police leaders, these officers said that the identities of many people, including those who were arrested, had been thoroughly checked, so that police knew which groups of people were involved.^[97]

Around 70 people had been checked, and several brought to police stations or taken into custody. The majority of those in detention were Syrians.^[97] The officers denied that the sexual harassment was only incidental, saying the truth was "exactly the opposite" and that most of the perpetrators sought primarily to commit sexual offenses, or in their words "sexual amusement".^[43] Arnold Plickert, North Rhine Westphalia's representative of German police union Gewerkschaft der Polizei, confirmed that asylum seekers were "definitely" involved.^[44][45]

On 8 January, the Federal Ministry of the Interior acknowledged that two-thirds of the suspects checked by the Federal Police—who are responsible for the railways and railway stations in Germany—in Cologne were asylum seekers. The same report stated that 31 suspects were identified by name, including 18 asylum seekers. In total, the suspects were nine Algerians, eight Moroccans, four Syrians, five Iranians, two Germans, an Iraqi, a Serb, and an American.^[15] Another report on the same day stated that stolen mobile phones were located by the police within or in the vicinity of refugees' residences.^[103]

By 8 January, 170 women had reported crimes to the police, including two rapes, with the events taking place in the main square between the station and Cologne Cathedral, and also outside the central railway station.^{[1][46][47][48][49]} The number increased to 379 on the following day, and sexual offences were alleged in 40 percent of these cases. Most of the suspects were described as men of North African appearance. The increase in reported crimes was attributed to the fact that more officers have been assigned to the investigation, so complaints from more police stations are being evaluated. Many of the attacked women were visitors of, or travellers passing through Cologne.^[50] By 11 January, the number of complaints was 553, with sexual offences comprising nearly half of the cases.^[18]

The next day, it was reported that the number had risen to 653, but a correction made later on set the number at 561. According to the department of public prosecution, there has been a transmission error ("Übermittlungsfehler").^[51][52] By 14 January, the number rose again to 652,^[53] by 15 January to 676 complaints, 347 of these including sexual offences.^[3] On 19 January, the number of complaints was at 766,^[5] rising to 821 on 21 January, including 359 sexual offences.^[16] The number of victims is higher, as some complaints included more than one victim: 1,049 people were affected in total as of 21 January.^[54][55][16] Three women were allegedly raped.^[56][55][57] By 30 January, the number of complaints in Cologne was 1,016, 433 of which included sexual offences.^[58] On 10 February, the number of complaints had risen again to 1,054. Alleged sexual offences were included in 454 cases, while the other cases consisted mostly of theft, robbery, and personal injuries.^[59] The number of complaints rose again to 1,075 by February 15; 467 included sexual offences.^[13] By 17 March, it had risen to more than 1,100.^[9] As of 18 March, the Cologne Public Prosecutor reported 1,139 crime complaints filed during New Year's Eve, 485 of which were sexual offences.^[60] By 6 April, the number of reported crimes in Cologne was 1,529. A total of 1,218 victims were involved, 529 of which were victims of sexual offences.^[14] In July, it was estimated that more than 600 women had been assaulted in Cologne.^[61]

Some complaints also included the allegation of denial of assistance and obstruction of justice in office against Wolfgang Albers and some police officers,^[62] as well as the North Rhine-Westphalia Minister of the Interior, Ralf Jäger.^[131] By 17 March, the number of such complaints was 51.^[63]

On 25 November 2016, a total of 1,616 crimes was reported for Cologne only. 509 of them were sexually motivated, among them 22 rapes.^[64]

Hamburg

Similar events took place in Hamburg, specifically on or near Reeperbahn, St. Pauli,^[41] where 53 women reported being sexually assaulted or robbed.^{[135][65][66]}

By 7 January, the number of complaints to the police in Hamburg increased to 70,^[67] to 108 by 8 January,^[139] to 153 by 12 January,^[68] to 195 by January 14,^[4] to 205 as of 20 January,^[142] and to 218 by 21 January. 351 people were reported to be victims of the alleged crimes.^[69] Eight people were identified as suspects, all of them migrants and some recently arrived refugees.^[4] A first suspect was arrested on January 21.^[69] According to the police, the number of suspects is likely to rise.^[70] On 4 February, a Hamburg police report leaked to the press showed that two women have allegedly been raped in Hamburg on New Year's Eve. There were 236 complaints with 391 victims.^[71] According to this report, nearly all offences in Hamburg were "exclusively motivated sexually": only three complaints with seven victims in total included no sexual offences.^[71] Most of the incidents took place around the street of Große Freiheit near the Reeperbahn, where a large crowd was gathered. Some policemen stood at the entrances of the street, but did not realise that sexual offences were taking place in the crowd or were themselves reluctant to act as they were in the minority. Many women except for one did not even have time or were too upset to call the emergency numbers that night.^[149]

Some incidents occurred on a shopping street, Jungfernstieg, where "several hundred" "highly aggressive and intoxicated" migrants threw fire crackers into the crowd. The police described the situation there as "borderline", because only 20 policemen were available there after midnight.^[150] On the Reeperbahn, bouncers acted to accompany and protect women in reaction to the events, and sales at some clubs and bars fell. On New Year's Eve, doormen were often the only people who could help victims, even those accompanied by husbands or partners.^[149][72] They opened a backyard in which they established a protection zone for the offended women. Doormen described the perpetrators as refugees, which they saw among other characteristics from their mismatching clothes.^[73] Mayor Olaf Scholz demanded quicker deportation of criminal migrants in reaction to the events.^[74] There has been an increased police presence, especially on the Reeperbahn.^[73]

Other cities

Criminal activity was also reported in Bielefeld, which had 18 complaints^[31]; Düsseldorf, which had at least 296 complaints; Dortmund, which had 30 complaints; and Stuttgart, which had at least 72 complaints.^{[64][1][75][41][135][76][77][164][165]}

In Düsseldorf, the 113 complaints of sexual assaults and theft followed 41 others that were reported earlier.^[78][79] The alleged crimes were committed from 11:00 p.m. on New Year's Eve to 6:15 a.m. on 1 January, with a crime being reported every four minutes. Most of the crimes happened in Altstadt, the old town of Düsseldorf.^[79] The perpetrators were described as groups of young male migrants who showed "no respect for women".^[165] 57 of the 113 alleged crimes were sexual assaults, and 13 further were classified as "insulting on a sexual base".^[79][80] By November, a total of 296 complaints about 311 crimes were filed in Düsseldorf, in 103 cases there had been a sexual motivation.^[64]

In Stuttgart, 17 of the 72 complaints made to the police by 20 January were sexual offences.^[81]

In Dortmund, at least two complaints of sexual assaults were made by 11 January, but the police stated that there are probably more victims. Witnesses told the media of two groups of men, 150 within Dortmund main station, 200{{ndash}}300 outside. One witness described the group in the station as "strangely silent". Another witness stated that the men outside were "aggressive". The victims were then sexually assaulted by smaller groups of men of Arabic or southern origin near the station.^[82][83] By 20 January, the number of complaints had risen to 28, including four sexual offences. 32 people were affected in total, seven of them for sexual assaults.^[165] By November, 30 complaints about 35 crimes were filed in Dortmund.^[64]

In Bielefeld, six women reported to have been sexually hassled by men, described as having a migration background in and around a discothèque, ten cases of theft occurred. Around 50-60 men tried to force their access into the building^[84], but were successfully premised with help of the police. By 20 January, the number of all reported offenses rose to 18, with 22 victims in total.^[85]

On 20 January, North Rhine-Westphalia Police published provisional figures for the four cities in its territory: Bielefeld, Cologne, Dortmund, and Düsseldorf. There were complaints of nearly 1,000 crimes with a total of 1,216 victims from the four cities alone.^[86] By 9 April, these numbers had risen to 1,754 crimes, with 1,455 victims living in all four cities.^[87] Also in January, the fact became known from a confidential report of the German Bundeskriminalamt (Federal Criminal Office, BKA) that offences similar to those in North Rhine-Westphalia and Hamburg occurred—in a lower extent—in 12 of the 16 German federal states.^[88]

In addition, similar assaults in Austria, Finland, Switzerland, and Sweden were reported.^[89][90]

Police response