cologne never smelled so bad

[Big RR]

oldr--that's the point; I'll admit I know little of the Koran, but what I do know from my moslem friends is that it does not justify acts of mayhem. But I do know how easy it is to whip up opinion against the "other", to blame the group for the actions of a few jerks, and to all of those in the other group should be [fill in the blank]. It has been this way throughout history, and it is always wrong (although the fear and hatred often move the masses to blindly support idiots and to throw aside reflection in favor of an unsupportable emotional response.

[Gob]

I don't see any cover-up. I did see police actually conducting investigations before a rush to judgment, however.

T.

Officers told Die Welt that large numbers of people had had their identities checked, with some taken into temporary custody.

"Among the identity checks that were carried out, the majority of people were only able to produce evidence of registration as an asylum seeker from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees [BAMF]," a police report dated January 2nd, seen by Die Welt, recorded.

That directly contradicts statements by Cologne police chief Wolfgang Albers in a press conference on Tuesday, when he said that police had little or no information about the background of the attackers.

Police failed to mention the attacks around Cologne's main train station in their initial morning report on New Year's Day, describing overnight festivities as "largely peaceful."

[Big RR]

That directly contradicts statements by Cologne police chief Wolfgang Albers in a press conference on Tuesday, when he said that police had little or no information about the background of the attackers.

Were any of those who had heir identities checked and/or were taken into temporary custody part of the attackers? If they were I must have missed that.

What I see is that many of those who had their identities checked were possibly asylum seekers. And the police might well have not had much information about the background of the attackers when asked at the press conference; indeed, the detentions/identity checks might well have been unrelated.

Police failed to mention the attacks around Cologne's main train station in their initial morning report on New Year's Day, describing overnight festivities as "largely peaceful."

In what context was this report given? I would imagine the rapes were reported and were being dealt with (after all identities were apparently checked and some were detained, at least for a while), so what sort of report was this? And over what area--in the entire city? In such case the phrase "largely peaceful" might well be appropriate.

[rubato]

Somehow it all reminds me of the bullshit stories about police "no go" zones in England, France, ans Sweden. All turned out to be lies.

I'll wait for better information to come out.


Yrs,
Rubato

[Lord Jim]

Rube, you really need to start using a browser that has access to Google search :

Authorities and witnesses said the New Year's Eve attackers were among a group of about 1,000 people, described as predominantly Arab and North African men, who gathered at Cologne's central train station. Some broke off into small groups and groped and robbed women, police said.

Maas has said German authorities need to quickly determine whether the assaults were coordinated or were linked to similar offenses in other cities including Hamburg. Incidents also were reported in Sweden and Finland.

North Rhine-Westphalia state police told lawmakers Monday, however, that so far their investigation had found no indication the Cologne attacks were coordinated, or linked to others, dpa reported.

Cologne police say 516 criminal complaints have now been filed with them in connection to the New Year's attacks. About 40 percent involve allegations of sexual offenses.

Cologne's police drew criticism both for their response and for their slowness to release information. Police chief Wolfgang Albers was dismissed Friday by North Rhine-Westphalia state's interior minister, Ralf Jaeger.

At a session Monday of the state legislature's home affairs committee, Jaeger said Cologne police hadn't called in reinforcements who were offered.

Of the 19 suspects identified by name by Cologne police, 10 were asylum-seekers and the other nine were believed to be in Germany illegally, according to a report Jaeger submitted to the committee. None was registered as living in Cologne, and four are now in custody for robberies committed during the New Year events.

Separately, 32 suspects have been identified by federal police, who have jurisdiction over the Cologne train station security, the Interior Ministry said. They include 22 asylum-seekers but also three Germans and an American, among others.

In Sweden, where police are also investigating New Year's Eve assaults in the city of Kalmar, police confirmed reports there had also been widespread sexual assaults at a music festival in Stockholm last summer. Stockholm police spokesman Varg Gyllander refused to give the nationality of the suspects, but did say "this involves young men who are not from Sweden."[Probably Danes...]

In a separate incident in Germany, police said Sunday that a Syrian and an Afghan were arrested in northern Germany on suspicion of attacking and robbing a French man who was wearing a Jewish skullcap at the Puttgarden ferry port. The incident happened on Saturday, and the two men had been denied entry to Denmark the previous day.

http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/articl ... 750054.php

[MajGenl.Meade]

F'em all. Political asylum (persecution by the government) only is the way to go - and keep those locked up until the full details are heard. The other refugees can stay somewhere else. Like their own country (tough shit - live with it or change it).

[dales]

Now the Hard-Right Wingers of Slate Magazine chime in:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/ ... ml?ref=yfp

The Mass Sexual Assault in Germany Could End Up With Hundreds of Thousands of Victims





The Slatest

Your News Companion

Jan. 12 2016 12:35 PM

The Hundreds of Thousands of Victims of Germany’s Mass Sexual Assault


Tensions in Germany, already high over the more than 1 million migrants and refugees who entered the country last year, have gotten exponentially worse since the disturbing wave of possibly coordinated violent assaults on women in Cologne on New Year’s Eve. Eighteen of the 31 people identified as suspects in the attacks, which included hundreds of sexual assaults and robberies, were asylum-seekers.

On Saturday, police clashed with around 1,700 protesters at a rally in the city organized by the anti-Islam group PEGIDA. Gangs have also attacked Muslims in apparently racially motivated incidents in Cologne and Leipzig. The government, meanwhile, has responded to the sexual assaults with new rules to make the deportation of foreign criminals easier.

There were already signs that Germany was starting to tighten its borders after a year in which it led the continent in accepting refugees and urged its reluctant fellow EU members to follow suit. Chancellor Angela Merkel is under heavy pressure from some members of her own coalition to institute a lower cap for the number of refugees Germany will accept going forward. Merkel had made the case, most recently in a televised address just prior to the new year, that Germany would be able to absorb the influx and that the new arrivals would benefit the country’s economy. Her opponents are now very loudly saying, “I told you so.”

The government also certainly didn’t help its case with its slow response to the Cologne assaults, which veered into outright victim-blaming by the city’s mayor, leading to the accusation by right-wing groups and publications that the government, along with Germany’s mainstream media, are actively covering up crimes committed by asylum-seekers.

The attacks on hundreds of women in Cologne are horrifying, and it would be shameful if the authorities in any way downplayed what happened to the victims in order to protect the government’s political priorities. But as the anti-refugee backlash in Germany and other countries is bolstered and governments, under pressure from public anger, increasingly shut the borders, thousands of desperate people fleeing war, stranded on Europe’s periphery, will also suffer. The true number of the attackers’ victims may run into the hundreds of thousands.

[Lord Jim]

used quote function and hit submit...

my bad

[MajGenl.Meade]

Well quoted LJ - brilliant! Excellent use of the Quote function. Maybe you should give seminars?

[Crackpot]

I think he was trying to fix the wass only he forgot to

[Lord Jim]

Well quoted LJ - brilliant! Excellent use of the Quote function. Maybe you should give seminars?

I think he was trying to fix the wass only he forgot to

Yeah, like you Palookas never make a mistake...

[Crackpot]

Like you ever rubbed our faces in our mistakes

The lady doth protest too much.

[Lord Jim]

I may be a lady but at least I don't cry like a little school girl...








that is so sexist...tough...

[MajGenl.Meade]

But do you make love just like a woman?

[Lord Jim]

Yes, but I break just like a little girl...

[Guinevere]

You boys finished yet?

[wesw]

the most heard comment in Cologne on new year s eve?

[Guinevere]

That's just dickish. Were you trying to be funny because you failed miserably.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Let's see.... we've got so-called refugees being arrested in the USA for ISIS involvement and so-called refugees in Germany committing mass assaults and persons of certain ethnic persuasions arrested in the UK for human trafficking...

... and somehow Donald Trump is wrong to be speaking about a problem?..... Yes, he's an utter beast and toad-brain but even those such as he can hit on a real strong vein of genuine concern

[Guinevere]

Go live under a rock, if you're so afraid.