Worrying situation

This has been widely reported in the press Jane10. Quite horrifying that these young men should treat citizens of the country that are sheltering them in such a way. There is no justification for their actions.

That's very worrying and totally unacceptable. Did your friend report this to the police?

Angela Merkel's on to it.

Really scary for any females doing a city break without a man in tow.

I wonder if Angela Merkel is now regretting being quite so accepting with her open arms policy.

Did the police arrive on the scene jane10? They are quick enough chasing the fake handbag sellers.

I saw this too, and a response from a German politician from Cologne.

One of the things they will be doing is explaining the meaning of the festival to non-Germans and explaining there is no sexual element to it.

Makes you wonder how other countries celebrate New Year eh?

I think it is generally accepted that certain cultures do not respect women and that, with the influx of 'refugees' there are certain to be amongst them, those who carry their mediaeval ways with them.

What is disturbing is that the German police did not round them up. Or did they? It is only by suffering the consequences of their actions and learning that they are not acceptable in our countries that they may be brought to understand how disgusting this behaviour is.

I was just so horrified hearing it from the horses mouth. She's a sensible person who is familiar with how things usually happen in Germany. No point in reporting to police. They're already on to it. She couldn't face spending the hours and hours it would have taken. I hope Mrs Merkel really is on to it. I checked the news reports after I heard from my friend and it sounds like that sort of thing happened in several large cities.

says here she expressed horror

Thanks jings. Not very convincing that they're going to do much about it. Warn women? Maybe they should be told to stay at home, cover up or only go out with a male escort? Surely not here. Not now. Burkha anyone?

I can see that some of the young male population might use this as an excuse to 'defend' their women. There are many neo-nazis in Germany and indeed the far right are just looking for an excuse like this.

Is anyone surprised. We were in Morocco last year and there were some young women in the Hotel who asked us if they could come out with us because of the 'attention' they were getting from the young men.
I'm not just talking about verbal harassment, I'm talking about being grabbed and pulled. I think they chose us because my OH is a very tall muscular man and has that look of ' don't mess with me'
I felt the same way in Tunisia some years ago.

I hadn't seen this post when I made a similar one. I'll ask gnhq to take mine down. Jane10, I hesitated to stArt a thread on this for the reasons you gave and notice I've already been accused of making dangerous assumptions

The problem is to many from other cultures, especially Muslim cultures, the freedom that woment have in more westernised countries to go where they like and do what they like and make their own decisions about their personal relationhship with individual men is misinterpreted as being that women like that are loose or prostitutes who are fair prey to any man who wishes to have sexual contact with them. While these attitudes are common in Islamic countries and among some muslim communities in Britain, India, predominately a Hindu country has a similar problem as do several others.

While, so far, there is no evidence that the men involved in the Cologne attacks came specifically from the 2015 intake of immigrants. It does highlight a need to rethink our approach to new immigrants from countries with a very different cultural background to ours. Many of the Syrian immigrants are not cosmopolitan in origin or highly educated. Many have been forced to flee from rural areas and small towns and have arrived in countries whose culture they know nothing about. I do think we should expect them to attend aculturaisation courses where the main differences between our cultures is explained and I do think that the very different position of women an our culture and their freedom to govern their own lives with out fear is one of the topics in the courses.

I used to work for a company that sent engineers and their families to live abroad often to countries with a very diffferent culture to ours. The families were always sent on special courses before they went to explain the very different cultural expectations and behaviours they would meet in the country they were going to. I do not think it unreasonable to expect immigrants coming here to attend similar courses.

Its a good idea Monica surely that's being done? Daft not to. I was listening to Jeremy Vine today on this subject and a very careful German lawyer said that the men he came into contact with were all migrants, were fined a small amount which they wouldn't pay and were released again. Time for Germany to get a grip. This was all entirely predictable!

I saw the picture of the station concourse and even at my age with my feeling of invincibility I would have not wanted to walk through that crowd

This will damage tourism to Germany. I too, am glad that as a country we will be taking families from the camps.

Invincible Stansgran!

I have a Muslim friend who told me women were lucky in this country that they could go about their business in relative peace and safety. I was told also that when she goes abroad to visit her family,women shopping in the market are groped all the time. This is when wearing a full Hijab, not Western clothing. For obvious reasons I do not wish to name the country but she stated there is a massive cultural difference in male attitudes to women where her family originally came from.

I'm afraid Merkel is reaping what she has sowed. I even heard some idiot woman on German TV advising German women to 'keep men at arms length'. So, you live in your country all your life with no bother but now YOU have to change your ways and accept the responsibility for guys that cannot keep their hands to themselves? If they came near me they would lose their hands and possibly another part of their anatomy............ The German authorities should be stamping on this right now, because if they don't German men may decide they will not put up with this type of treatment of wives, sisters, daughters and end up taking the law into their own hands, which will end in utter mayhem.

Sorry the above should have read: This was when wearing a full Burkha. Not a Hijab.

petra Morocco was like that when I was there in the 80s, so it's nothing new. Single women need to use common sense and we were told as much by our tour rep at the welcome talk. It's a Muslim country, as is Tunisia and the culture should be respected.

From what I've read the attacks on New Year's Eve were organised and took place in several locations in Germany. Few if any arrests have been made to date, basically because the police were taken unawares and the men had left the area by the time the police realised what had happened. The police have got descriptions of some of the men and are looking for them, so Jane10 tell your friend it's still worth reporting what happened. One woman was raped and others were groped. There's been rallies in support of women being able to walk around at night in safety.

The incidents are being called a new type of crime.

Tension over handling of assaults

Protests in Cologne

The female mayor of Cologne was responsible for the comment "keep men at arms length", just how women were supposed to do that when they are being purposely tripped up, groped around the crotch, breasts etc., she didn't eludicate. It beggars belief that her comments were aimed at the women of Germany and not the men who have carried out the assaults, and as yet, we only know they are of Arab appearance and not whether they are incoming asylum seekers. Whoever they are they besmirch the reputation of all those who have come to Europe fleeing conflict and just wish to live in peace. If however they are asylum seekers then to behave in such a manner to the people of the host country is a good enough reason to have them deported back from whence they came, because clearly they don't value being given a safe haven. The report I read in The Times yesterday on this matter was very graphic and suggested that some women had been assaulted in a very invasive way and at least one had been raped.

A while ago a group of Libyan soldiers came over to the Cambridge area for training and whilst out of their barracks they again went on a drink fueled groping session of the local women. A couple are now in jail for raping a man in a park, and predictably they are applying for asylum here once they come out.

Germany is going to have to get to grips with this situation if they are not to alienate their citizens and fuel the far right.

@ Wilma how can one respect a culture where it is acceptable to grope women?