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Re: Cologne scandal
German chancellor Angela Merkel is facing increasing pressure at home after her justice minister warned that attackers identified as migrants in Cologne on New Year’s Eve were members of an organised crime network.
Heiko Maas said the mass sexual assaults and robberies that took place in the centre of the German city as thousands celebrated were co-ordinated by men using smart phones and social networks.
His claim came as Ms Merkel faces growing public outrage, mounting criticism of her refugee policy and worries over integrating migrants. With a lot on her plate, she had already decided well before the Cologne attacks not to make her regular trip to the Davos World Economic Forum, the global leaders’ gathering this month.
More than 500 women have now filed criminal complaints over the new year attacks in Cologne, with 40 per cent alleging sexual assaults and many victims identifying their attackers as men of Arab or North African origin.
In an interview with the Bild am Sonntag newspaper, Mr Maas said: “Nobody can tell me that this was not co-ordinated or prepared . . . When such a horde meets to commit criminal acts it looks like it was planned in some form.”
His remarks are significant as he is one of the Social Democrat members of Ms Merkel’s Christian Democrat-led grand coalition, and his party has championed minority rights for years. Now, under public pressure for action, the SPD is joining the chancellor’s CDU party in proposing tougher laws on migrant criminals.
At the weekend CDU leaders backed plans to extend judges’ powers to order deportations for migrants convicted of serious crimes. Ms Merkel said offenders “must feel the full force of the law”, adding that the plans were not only in the interests of citizens but of “the great majority of refugees”.
Re: Cologne scandal
Swedish police face allegations of covering up mass sexual assault
Sweden is facing its own version of Germany’s Cologne scandal with police in Stockholm pledging to investigate allegations of covering up mass sexual assault at a festival two years ago.
Swedish police promised urgently to investigate the claims reported first by Dagens Nyheter newspaper that a gang of youths — reportedly mostly from Afghanistan — groped and molested girls as young as 11 or 12.
The allegations, which date back to the 2014 youth festival We Are Sthlm, are yet to be confirmed. But they are still likely to cause a political scandal perhaps even greater than the reaction in Germany because of the presence in the Nordic country of an anti-immigration party, the Sweden Democrats, that has in recent months periodically topped opinion polls.
Peter Agren, who was in charge of policing at the festival, was reported by Dagens Nyheter as saying about the cover-up allegations: “This is a sore point. We sometimes dare not to say how it is because we think it might play into the hands of the Sweden Democrats.”
Bjorn Soder, a senior Sweden Democrats MP, told Expressen newspaper: “It is a scandal without equal. This must be investigated immediately. Could this be something that happened at several locations in the country, that they do not bother to tell you certain things because it could ‘play into the hands of a particular party’?”
Re: Cologne scandal
Peter Agren, who was in charge of policing at the festival, was reported by Dagens Nyheter as saying about the cover-up allegations: “This is a sore point. We sometimes dare not to say how it is because we think it might play into the hands of the Sweden Democrats.”
Shocking admission. Democracy is dead in Europe.
The reaction will be predictable.
Re: Cologne scandal
People with medieval mindsets. How do enlightened people tackle it? & even then, lots of people claiming enlightenment are just scoundrels, liars, self serving cretins. What a world, eh? We've created an absolute mess.
Re: Cologne scandal
I recommend you all take a listen to this podcast http://www.noagendashow.com/
Features Adam Curry of MTV VJ fame, and John C. Dvorak of tech journalism fame. they look into the news the media isnt widely reporting.
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