Can anyone actually answer how people determine that there were 1000 men who assaulted women rather than 10 or 20,999, 30, 5. Title says ''Germany shaken after group of 1,000 men accused of assaulting 90 women during new year celebration''
Are there 1000 in custody or 1000 suspects with 10/111/203 or 5 perpetrators?
Obviously I don't think anyone can say it was exactly 1,000 but there were numerous witnesses , including police officers and it seems clear this was something involving many people , not just a small group.
There are a few things I find strange about this - What were all these guys doing there in the first place ? Is New Year a big event for muslims/arabs/north africans ? (hope that doesn't sound ignorant/Eurocentric ) Was there some kind of community event nearby?
Was it one of those situations where a few people did something and then others saw them get away with it and thought they'd have a go as well ?
there are quotes from the police referring to the assaults being "planned" and "coordinated". What does this mean ? Was it some kind of flash mob, were people communicating on Twitter ? Or have there been similar incidents there that weren't on such a large scale and didn't get any publicity ?
And what the fuck were the police doing ? according to the reports I've seen nobody has yet been arrested. Of course they were obviously outnumbered and couldn't have been expected to get all the culprits , or even to see a lot of what was going on , but not one single arrest ?!
Whatever went on ,the Germans (and the rest of us) need to take this seriously
Personally I think Merkel acted on a genuine , humane impulse when she opened the border but she didn't think through the implications. This situation just highlights the fact that we need to put emotions aside long enough to weigh up the practicalities of taking in people and be realistic about just how many newcomers any country can be expected to absorb.
And we need to be firm in asserting our basic values , like respect for women , and be clear that some things are non-negotiable , whatever your background.