AS IT IS 2016-02-02 Officials Say They Failed Women in Cologne Attacks

AS IT IS 2016-02-02 Officials Say They Failed Women in Cologne Attacks

Police, government officials and journalists say they failed the women attacked in Cologne, Germany on New Year’s Eve.

Groups of young men sexually attacked and robbed women that evening. The attacks occurred outside Cologne’s main train station.  

Prosecutors² said police received 945 complaints from the victims of the attacks. More than 430 were for sex crimes. Prosecutors named 35 suspects, 32 of them from North Africa.

The attacks reduced support for immigration in Germany.

A poll by YouGov, a European polling agency, found 62 percent of Germans believe there are too many asylum³ seekers in Germany. That is up nine percentage points from before the Cologne attacks.

The Cologne attacks led to painful debates about government, news media and police.

Some questioned whether Germany should accept more immigrants. There have been large anti-immigration demonstrations⁴ in Cologne and elsewhere in Germany.

Police were criticized for what many victims viewed as a slow and inadequate⁵ response to the attacks.

News organizations were asked why they took so long to provide full coverage⁶ of the attacks.

Lutz Frühbrodt is a professor of journalism⁷ at Wurzburg-Schweinfurt University. He said some German news organizations failed to report that most attackers were from the Middle East and North Africa. He said they did not want to raise opposition⁸ to immigration.

But others said the German press encouraged anti-immigrant feelings. They reported over and over that the attackers were from outside Germany, wrote Free University of Berlin Professor Joachim Trebbe. Normally the German media does not report the ethnic⁹ or national background of accused criminals, he said.

The Cologne attacks also produced charges of sexism and “blaming the victim.”

Cologne Mayor Henriette Reker was widely criticized after she said young women should make themselves less of a target. She also said young women should “keep a certain distance” from groups of young men.

German Justice Minister Heiko Maas said her comments were not acceptable.  “It is not women who bear responsibility, but the perpetrators,” Mass wrote on Twitter.

There have been admissions from various officials in recent days that the attacks were not handled well.

An internal police report found that police on duty New Year’s Eve in Cologne “could not cope” with the attacks. Most took place in the square in front of the city’s main train station.

It said women were “forced to run the gauntlet” of gangs of drunken men who groped them, pulled their hair and ran off with phones and wallets.

Some news organizations apologized for not giving the story much attention during the first hours and days after the attacks.

Elmar Thevessen, deputy news editor of German public broadcaster ZDF, said his news organization waited too long to air a story.

The mayor of Cologne took a much tougher stand against the attackers.

“Women were sexually harassed¹¹ in a massive way,” she told Spiegel Online. “I always thought these were the kinds of dangers people faced in very distant countries. It's not something I could have imagined in Germany. We cannot accept it.”

Syrian refugee Basheer Alzaalan says the attacks by fellow immigrants in his home town of Cologne makes him angry. He says Germany offered him a safe home after he left the civil war in Syria.

“Germany for the Syrians was some kind of mother, and at the head of that, (Chancellor) Angela Merkel,” he told VOA in an interview at a Cologne cafe.

Alzaalan says he hopes people understand most refugees are good people. He taught English in Syria before he fled to Germany with his wife and two children.

He wrote in the Guardian¹² that he and his family fled their home in 2014 after terrorist groups took over.

"I feared for the lives of my wife, our three and four-year-old daughters and our unborn son," he wrote. "Bombs had been dropping where we lived on a daily basis."

Alzaalan says he wants to help Germany help refugees adjust to German life.

Words in This Story

complaint – n. a formal charge saying that someone has done something wrong

prosecutor¹ – n. a lawyer who represents the side in a court case that accuses a person of a crime and who tries to prove that the person is guilty

inadequate -- adj. not enough or not good enough

encourage – v. to make (someone) more determined¹³, hopeful, or confident

bear – v. to accept or endure something

handle – v. to touch, feel, hold, or move (something) with your hand

gauntlet – n. situation in which someone is attacked by many people

drunken – adj. a person who has had too much to drink

grope – v. to touch a person in an unwanted sexual way

wallet – n. a small folding case that holds money and credit cards

harass¹⁰ – v. to annoy or bother someone.

massive – n. very big

1 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

2 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

3 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

4 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

5 inadequate   

adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的

参考例句：

• The supply is inadequate to meet the demand.供不应求。
• She was inadequate to the demands that were made on her.她还无力满足对她提出的各项要求。

6 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

7 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

8 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

9 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

10 harass   

vt.使烦恼，折磨，骚扰

参考例句：

• Our mission is to harass the landing of the main Japaness expeditionary force.我们的任务是骚乱日本远征军主力的登陆。
• They received the order to harass the enemy's rear.他们接到骚扰敌人后方的命令。

11 harassed   

adj. 疲倦的，厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He has complained of being harassed by the police. 他投诉受到警方侵扰。
• harassed mothers with their children 带着孩子的疲惫不堪的母亲们

12 guardian   

n.监护人；守卫者，保护者

参考例句：

• The form must be signed by the child's parents or guardian. 这张表格须由孩子的家长或监护人签字。
• The press is a guardian of the public weal. 报刊是公共福利的卫护者。

13 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。