He's a fraudulent "vet" bc he choses to use the DocD handle as a means of quashing criticism to his posts. The fact is DocD is really DocNOT, bc he is NO PHYSICIAN. To that end its' best you not "follow his lead" unless you want to be LED ASTRAY!
MESO-Rx
Anabolic Steroids
Are you ok with Muslim refugees moving in next to you in the US?
- Thread starter Desibaba
- Start date
He's a fraudulent "vet" bc he choses to use the DocD handle as a means of quashing criticism to his posts. The fact is DocD is really DocNOT, bc he is NO PHYSICIAN. To that end its' best you not "follow his lead" unless you want to be LED ASTRAY!
So I chose this handle to squash criticism of my posts on car and motorcycle forums Dumbo? Bc I have the same handle on car and bike forums where I've been a member for far longer than AAS forums. Good God man, your stupidity is almost unrivaled here. Keep them coming though. Every comment you make makes you look more and more like a child whose mom put him in timeout
Germans Stock Up on Weapons for Self-Defense
by Soeren Kern
December 21, 2015 at 5:00 am
All across Germany, a country with some of the most stringent gun-control laws in Europe, demand is skyrocketing for non-lethal self-defense weapons, including pepper sprays, gas pistols, flare guns, electroshock weapons and animal repellants. Germans are also applying for weapons permits in record numbers.
The scramble to acquire weapons comes amid a migrant-driven surge in violent crimes — including rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults — in cities and towns throughout the country.
German authorities, however, are going to great lengths to argue that the German citizenry's sudden interest in self-defense has nothing whatsoever to do with mass migration into the country, despite ample evidence to the contrary.
In recent weeks, German newspapers have published dozens of stories with headlines such as: "Germany is Afraid — And Grabs for the Weapon," "Germans are Arming Themselves: The Demand for Weapons Explodes," "More and More People are Buying a Weapon," "http://www.augsburger-allgemeine.de/noerdlingen/Haende-hoch-id36334002.html (Security: Hands Up!)" "The Need for Security Increases," "http://www.daserste.de/information/politik-weltgeschehen/mittagsmagazin/sendung/waffen-selbstschutz-pefferspray-gas-100.html," and "Bavarians are Arming Themselves— Afraid of Refugees?"
The German daily newspaper Die Welt recently produced a video report about Germany's surge in sales of self-defense weapons, which was titled "The Weapons Business is Profiting from the Refugee Crisis." (Image source: Die Welt video screenshot)
Since Germany's migration crisis exploded in August 2015, nationwide sales of pepper spray have jumped by 600%, according to the German newsmagazine, Focus. Supplies of the product are now completely sold out in many parts of the country and additional stocks will not become available until 2016. "Manufacturers and distributors say the huge influx of foreigners in recent weeks has apparently frightened many people," Focus reports.
According to KH Security, a German manufacturer of self-defense products, demand is up by a factor of five, and sales in September 2015 — the month when the implications of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door migration policy began to dawn on many Germans — were the highest since the company was founded 25 years ago. The company says there is an increased demand not only for self-defense weapons, but also for home alarm systems.
Another manufacturer of self-defense products, the Frankfurt-based company DEF-TEC Defense Technology, has reported a 600% increase in sales this fall. According to CEO Kai Prase:
The same story is being repeated across Germany. According to the public broadcaster, Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, citizens in Saxony can regularly be seen queuing up in large numbers waiting for gun shops to open.
A store owner in the Saxon town of Pirna said he is now selling up to 200 cans of pepper spray each day, compared to five cans a week before the migrant crisis began. He said he is seeing many new customers who are not the typical clientele, including women of all ages and men who are buying weapons for their wives.
Günter Fritz, the owner of a gun shop in Ebersbach, another town in Saxony, told RTL News, "Since September, all over Germany, also at my shop, sales of self-defense products have exploded." He added that his clients come from all walks of life, ranging "from the professor to the retired lady. All are afraid."
Andreas Reinhardt, a gun shop owner in the northern German town of Eutin, said he now sells four to five self-defense weapons each day, compared to around two per month before the recent influx of asylum seekers. "The current social upheaval is clearly driving the current rush to self-defense," he said. "I never thought that fear would spread so quickly," he added.
Eric Thiel, the owner of a gun shop in Flensburg, a city on the Baltic Sea coast, said that pepper spray is no longer available: "Everything is sold out. New supplies will not arrive until March. Everything that has to do with self-defense is booming enormously."
Wolfgang Mayer, the owner of a gun shop in Nördlingen, a town in Bavaria, http://www.augsburger-allgemeine.de/noerdlingen/Haende-hoch-id36334002.html (said) he has an explanation for the surge in gun licenses: "I think with the influx of refugees, the rise in break-ins and the many tricksters, the people are demanding greater protection."
Mayer added that there is a growing sense within German society that the state cannot adequately protect its citizens and therefore they have to better protect themselves. "Since the summer, sales of pepper spray have increased by 50%," Mayer said, adding that buyers are mainly women, of all ages — from the student in the city up to the widowed grandmother.
Pepper spray and other types of non-lethal self-defense weapons are legal in Germany, but a permit is required to carry and use some categories of them. Officials in all of Germany's 16 federal states are reporting a spike in applications for such permits, known as the small weapons license (kleinen Waffenschein).
In the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, nearly 10,000 people now hold a small weapons license, an "all-time record level," according to the regional interior ministry. Retailers in the state are also reporting an "unprecedented surge" in sales of self-defense weapons, with supplies of pepper spray sold out until the spring of 2016.
In Saxony, retailers are reporting an unprecedented boom in sales of pepper spray, tear gas, gas pistols and even cross bows. Some stores are now selling more self-defense weapons in one day than they did in an entire month before the migrant crisis began.
Saxon officials are also http://www.dnn.de/Mitteldeutschland/News/Immer-mehr-Sachsen-wollen-erlaubnispflichtige-Waffen a jump in the number of people applying for the full-fledged firearms license (großen Waffenschein). The rush to arms can be attributed to a "subjective decline in the people's sense of security," Saxon Interior Minister Markus Ulbig said.
In Berlin, the number of people holding a small weapons license increased by 30% during the first ten months of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014, while the number of those holding the full-fledged firearms license jumped by some 50%, https://www.rbb-online.de/panorama/beitrag/2015/11/berliner-und-brandenburger-kaufen-mehr-waffen-als-im-vorjahr.html to local police.
In Bavaria, more than 45,000 people now hold a small weapons license, 3,000 more than in 2014. This represents a "significant increase," according to the regional interior ministry. As in other parts of Germany, Bavarian retailers are also reporting a boom in sales of self-defense weapons, including gas pistols, flare guns and pepper spray.
In Stuttgart, the capital city of Baden-Württemberg, local gun shops are reporting a four-fold increase in sales of self-defense weapons since August. One shop owner said she now sells more weapons in one week than she normally sells in one month. She added that she has never seen such high demand.
In Heilbronn, another city in Baden-Württemberg, local officials report that sales of pepper spray have doubled in 2015. According to one shopkeeper, the demand for pepper spray began surging in August, when many mothers started purchasing the product for their school-aged daughters. "Our clients are extremely afraid," the shopkeeper said. "We are seeing this everywhere."
In Gera, a city in Thuringia, local media reported that at one store, the entire inventory of 120 cans of pepper spray was sold out within three hours. The store, which subsequently sold out of another batch of 144 cans, is now on a waiting list to obtain more because of supplier shortfalls.
A woman in Gera who bought pepper spray for her 16-year-old daughter said:
The same trend toward self-defense is being repeated in the German states of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony-Anhalt and http://www.express.de/news/panorama/sicherheits-angst-immer-mehr-deutsche-bewaffnen-sich-23218128, where spiraling levels of violent crime perpetrated by migrants is turning some neighborhoods into no-go zones.
Apologists for mass migration are accusing German citizens of overreacting. Some point to recent studies — commissioned by pro-migration groups — which claim, implausibly, that the number of crimes committed by migrants is decreasing, not increasing.
Others https://www.rbb-online.de/panorama/beitrag/2015/11/berliner-und-brandenburger-kaufen-mehr-waffen-als-im-vorjahr.html that the rush to self-defense has anything to do with migrants at all. They blame a variety of different factors, including the early darkness associated with the end of daylight savings time, the jihadist attacks in Paris (which occurred in November, three months after sales of self-defense weapons began to spike), and the need for protection from wild wolves in parts of northern Germany.
The Süddeutsche Zeitung described the deception this way:
Empirical evidence shows an indisputable nationwide spike in migrant-driven crime, including rapes of German women and girls on a shocking scale, as well as sexual and physical assaults, stabbings, home invasions, robberies, burglaries and drug trafficking.
The spike in violent crimes committed by migrants has been corroborated by a confidential police report leaked to a German newspaper. The document reveals that a record-breaking 38,000 asylum seekers were accused of committing crimes in the country in 2014. Analysts believe this figure — which works out to more than 100 crimes a day — is only a fragment: many crimes are not reported.
Not surprisingly, a new poll shows that 55% of Germans are pessimistic about the future, up from 31% in 2014 and 28% in 2013. The poll shows that 42% of those between the ages of 14 and 34 believe their future will be bleak; this is more than double the number of those (19%) who felt this way in 2013. At the same time, 64% of those aged 55 and above are fearful about the future.
The poll also shows that four-fifths (79%) of the German population believe the economy will deteriorate in 2016 due to the financial burdens created by the migration crisis, and 70% believe that member states of the European Union will drift further apart in the coming year. The most predictable finding of all: 87% of Germans believe their politicians will experience a decline in public support during 2016.
by Soeren Kern
December 21, 2015 at 5:00 am
- The scramble to acquire weapons comes amid an indisputable nationwide spike in migrant-driven crime, including rapes of German women and girls on a shocking scale, as well as physical assaults, stabbings, home invasions, robberies and burglaries — in cities and towns throughout the country.
- German authorities, however, are going to great lengths to argue that the German citizenry's sudden interest in self-defense has nothing whatsoever to do with mass migration into the country, despite ample evidence to the contrary.
- The spike in violent crimes committed by migrants has been corroborated by a leaked confidential police report, which reveals that a record-breaking 38,000 asylum seekers were accused of committing crimes in the country in 2014. Analysts believe this figure — which works out to more than 100 crimes a day — is only a fragment: many crimes are not reported.
- "Anyone who asks for the reasons for the surge in weapons purchases encounters silence." — Süddeutsche Zeitung
All across Germany, a country with some of the most stringent gun-control laws in Europe, demand is skyrocketing for non-lethal self-defense weapons, including pepper sprays, gas pistols, flare guns, electroshock weapons and animal repellants. Germans are also applying for weapons permits in record numbers.
The scramble to acquire weapons comes amid a migrant-driven surge in violent crimes — including rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults — in cities and towns throughout the country.
German authorities, however, are going to great lengths to argue that the German citizenry's sudden interest in self-defense has nothing whatsoever to do with mass migration into the country, despite ample evidence to the contrary.
In recent weeks, German newspapers have published dozens of stories with headlines such as: "Germany is Afraid — And Grabs for the Weapon," "Germans are Arming Themselves: The Demand for Weapons Explodes," "More and More People are Buying a Weapon," "http://www.augsburger-allgemeine.de/noerdlingen/Haende-hoch-id36334002.html (Security: Hands Up!)" "The Need for Security Increases," "http://www.daserste.de/information/politik-weltgeschehen/mittagsmagazin/sendung/waffen-selbstschutz-pefferspray-gas-100.html," and "Bavarians are Arming Themselves— Afraid of Refugees?"
The German daily newspaper Die Welt recently produced a video report about Germany's surge in sales of self-defense weapons, which was titled "The Weapons Business is Profiting from the Refugee Crisis." (Image source: Die Welt video screenshot)
Since Germany's migration crisis exploded in August 2015, nationwide sales of pepper spray have jumped by 600%, according to the German newsmagazine, Focus. Supplies of the product are now completely sold out in many parts of the country and additional stocks will not become available until 2016. "Manufacturers and distributors say the huge influx of foreigners in recent weeks has apparently frightened many people," Focus reports.
According to KH Security, a German manufacturer of self-defense products, demand is up by a factor of five, and sales in September 2015 — the month when the implications of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door migration policy began to dawn on many Germans — were the highest since the company was founded 25 years ago. The company says there is an increased demand not only for self-defense weapons, but also for home alarm systems.
Another manufacturer of self-defense products, the Frankfurt-based company DEF-TEC Defense Technology, has reported a 600% increase in sales this fall. According to CEO Kai Prase:
"Things took off beginning in September. Since then, our dealers have been totally overrun. We have never experienced anything like this in the 21 years of our corporate history. Fear: This is not rational. The important term is: 'refugee crisis.'"
The same story is being repeated across Germany. According to the public broadcaster, Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, citizens in Saxony can regularly be seen queuing up in large numbers waiting for gun shops to open.
A store owner in the Saxon town of Pirna said he is now selling up to 200 cans of pepper spray each day, compared to five cans a week before the migrant crisis began. He said he is seeing many new customers who are not the typical clientele, including women of all ages and men who are buying weapons for their wives.
Günter Fritz, the owner of a gun shop in Ebersbach, another town in Saxony, told RTL News, "Since September, all over Germany, also at my shop, sales of self-defense products have exploded." He added that his clients come from all walks of life, ranging "from the professor to the retired lady. All are afraid."
Andreas Reinhardt, a gun shop owner in the northern German town of Eutin, said he now sells four to five self-defense weapons each day, compared to around two per month before the recent influx of asylum seekers. "The current social upheaval is clearly driving the current rush to self-defense," he said. "I never thought that fear would spread so quickly," he added.
Eric Thiel, the owner of a gun shop in Flensburg, a city on the Baltic Sea coast, said that pepper spray is no longer available: "Everything is sold out. New supplies will not arrive until March. Everything that has to do with self-defense is booming enormously."
Wolfgang Mayer, the owner of a gun shop in Nördlingen, a town in Bavaria, http://www.augsburger-allgemeine.de/noerdlingen/Haende-hoch-id36334002.html (said) he has an explanation for the surge in gun licenses: "I think with the influx of refugees, the rise in break-ins and the many tricksters, the people are demanding greater protection."
Mayer added that there is a growing sense within German society that the state cannot adequately protect its citizens and therefore they have to better protect themselves. "Since the summer, sales of pepper spray have increased by 50%," Mayer said, adding that buyers are mainly women, of all ages — from the student in the city up to the widowed grandmother.
Pepper spray and other types of non-lethal self-defense weapons are legal in Germany, but a permit is required to carry and use some categories of them. Officials in all of Germany's 16 federal states are reporting a spike in applications for such permits, known as the small weapons license (kleinen Waffenschein).
In the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, nearly 10,000 people now hold a small weapons license, an "all-time record level," according to the regional interior ministry. Retailers in the state are also reporting an "unprecedented surge" in sales of self-defense weapons, with supplies of pepper spray sold out until the spring of 2016.
In Saxony, retailers are reporting an unprecedented boom in sales of pepper spray, tear gas, gas pistols and even cross bows. Some stores are now selling more self-defense weapons in one day than they did in an entire month before the migrant crisis began.
Saxon officials are also http://www.dnn.de/Mitteldeutschland/News/Immer-mehr-Sachsen-wollen-erlaubnispflichtige-Waffen a jump in the number of people applying for the full-fledged firearms license (großen Waffenschein). The rush to arms can be attributed to a "subjective decline in the people's sense of security," Saxon Interior Minister Markus Ulbig said.
In Berlin, the number of people holding a small weapons license increased by 30% during the first ten months of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014, while the number of those holding the full-fledged firearms license jumped by some 50%, https://www.rbb-online.de/panorama/beitrag/2015/11/berliner-und-brandenburger-kaufen-mehr-waffen-als-im-vorjahr.html to local police.
In Bavaria, more than 45,000 people now hold a small weapons license, 3,000 more than in 2014. This represents a "significant increase," according to the regional interior ministry. As in other parts of Germany, Bavarian retailers are also reporting a boom in sales of self-defense weapons, including gas pistols, flare guns and pepper spray.
In Stuttgart, the capital city of Baden-Württemberg, local gun shops are reporting a four-fold increase in sales of self-defense weapons since August. One shop owner said she now sells more weapons in one week than she normally sells in one month. She added that she has never seen such high demand.
In Heilbronn, another city in Baden-Württemberg, local officials report that sales of pepper spray have doubled in 2015. According to one shopkeeper, the demand for pepper spray began surging in August, when many mothers started purchasing the product for their school-aged daughters. "Our clients are extremely afraid," the shopkeeper said. "We are seeing this everywhere."
In Gera, a city in Thuringia, local media reported that at one store, the entire inventory of 120 cans of pepper spray was sold out within three hours. The store, which subsequently sold out of another batch of 144 cans, is now on a waiting list to obtain more because of supplier shortfalls.
A woman in Gera who bought pepper spray for her 16-year-old daughter said:
"I think it is fundamentally proper for me to protect my daughter. She is at that age where she is out alone in the evening. If she says she needs this for protection, I think this is not unjustified. Of course, due to the current situation that we now have in Germany. We just do not know who is here. There are quite a lot of people who are not registered."
The same trend toward self-defense is being repeated in the German states of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony-Anhalt and http://www.express.de/news/panorama/sicherheits-angst-immer-mehr-deutsche-bewaffnen-sich-23218128, where spiraling levels of violent crime perpetrated by migrants is turning some neighborhoods into no-go zones.
Apologists for mass migration are accusing German citizens of overreacting. Some point to recent studies — commissioned by pro-migration groups — which claim, implausibly, that the number of crimes committed by migrants is decreasing, not increasing.
Others https://www.rbb-online.de/panorama/beitrag/2015/11/berliner-und-brandenburger-kaufen-mehr-waffen-als-im-vorjahr.html that the rush to self-defense has anything to do with migrants at all. They blame a variety of different factors, including the early darkness associated with the end of daylight savings time, the jihadist attacks in Paris (which occurred in November, three months after sales of self-defense weapons began to spike), and the need for protection from wild wolves in parts of northern Germany.
The Süddeutsche Zeitung described the deception this way:
"Anyone who asks for the reasons for the surge in weapons purchases encounters silence. Officially, the regulatory agencies say that anyone who applies for the small weapons license does not need to provide a justification and therefore the government offices have no explanation. 'But it is true that sometimes we clearly get the message that they are afraid because of the refugees,' says one, on condition that his name and office will not be mentioned in the newspaper. 'People have already told me: I want to protect my family.' We have reported this to the Ministry...
"The retailers also say nothing officially about the reasons for the increase in sales. Call a small gun shop. Many refugees arrived at the end of August, and since September the numbers are up, can there not be a connection? 'If you do not use my name: Sure, what else?' Says the man on the phone. The people who come to the store are afraid. They believe that among the refugees there are 'black sheep.' Some customers openly admit it."
"The retailers also say nothing officially about the reasons for the increase in sales. Call a small gun shop. Many refugees arrived at the end of August, and since September the numbers are up, can there not be a connection? 'If you do not use my name: Sure, what else?' Says the man on the phone. The people who come to the store are afraid. They believe that among the refugees there are 'black sheep.' Some customers openly admit it."
Empirical evidence shows an indisputable nationwide spike in migrant-driven crime, including rapes of German women and girls on a shocking scale, as well as sexual and physical assaults, stabbings, home invasions, robberies, burglaries and drug trafficking.
The spike in violent crimes committed by migrants has been corroborated by a confidential police report leaked to a German newspaper. The document reveals that a record-breaking 38,000 asylum seekers were accused of committing crimes in the country in 2014. Analysts believe this figure — which works out to more than 100 crimes a day — is only a fragment: many crimes are not reported.
Not surprisingly, a new poll shows that 55% of Germans are pessimistic about the future, up from 31% in 2014 and 28% in 2013. The poll shows that 42% of those between the ages of 14 and 34 believe their future will be bleak; this is more than double the number of those (19%) who felt this way in 2013. At the same time, 64% of those aged 55 and above are fearful about the future.
The poll also shows that four-fifths (79%) of the German population believe the economy will deteriorate in 2016 due to the financial burdens created by the migration crisis, and 70% believe that member states of the European Union will drift further apart in the coming year. The most predictable finding of all: 87% of Germans believe their politicians will experience a decline in public support during 2016.
Germans Stock Up on Weapons for Self-Defense
by Soeren Kern
December 21, 2015 at 5:00 am
Germans, facing an influx of more than one million asylum seekers from Africa, Asia and the Middle East, are rushing to arm themselves.
- The scramble to acquire weapons comes amid an indisputable nationwide spike in migrant-driven crime, including rapes of German women and girls on a shocking scale, as well as physical assaults, stabbings, home invasions, robberies and burglaries — in cities and towns throughout the country.
- German authorities, however, are going to great lengths to argue that the German citizenry's sudden interest in self-defense has nothing whatsoever to do with mass migration into the country, despite ample evidence to the contrary.
- The spike in violent crimes committed by migrants has been corroborated by a leaked confidential police report, which reveals that a record-breaking 38,000 asylum seekers were accused of committing crimes in the country in 2014. Analysts believe this figure — which works out to more than 100 crimes a day — is only a fragment: many crimes are not reported.
- "Anyone who asks for the reasons for the surge in weapons purchases encounters silence." — Süddeutsche Zeitung
All across Germany, a country with some of the most stringent gun-control laws in Europe, demand is skyrocketing for non-lethal self-defense weapons, including pepper sprays, gas pistols, flare guns, electroshock weapons and animal repellants. Germans are also applying for weapons permits in record numbers.
The scramble to acquire weapons comes amid a migrant-driven surge in violent crimes — including rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults — in cities and towns throughout the country.
German authorities, however, are going to great lengths to argue that the German citizenry's sudden interest in self-defense has nothing whatsoever to do with mass migration into the country, despite ample evidence to the contrary.
In recent weeks, German newspapers have published dozens of stories with headlines such as: "Germany is Afraid — And Grabs for the Weapon," "Germans are Arming Themselves: The Demand for Weapons Explodes," "More and More People are Buying a Weapon," "http://www.augsburger-allgemeine.de/noerdlingen/Haende-hoch-id36334002.html (Security: Hands Up!)" "The Need for Security Increases," "http://www.daserste.de/information/politik-weltgeschehen/mittagsmagazin/sendung/waffen-selbstschutz-pefferspray-gas-100.html," and "Bavarians are Arming Themselves— Afraid of Refugees?"
The German daily newspaper Die Welt recently produced a video report about Germany's surge in sales of self-defense weapons, which was titled "The Weapons Business is Profiting from the Refugee Crisis." (Image source: Die Welt video screenshot)
Since Germany's migration crisis exploded in August 2015, nationwide sales of pepper spray have jumped by 600%, according to the German newsmagazine, Focus. Supplies of the product are now completely sold out in many parts of the country and additional stocks will not become available until 2016. "Manufacturers and distributors say the huge influx of foreigners in recent weeks has apparently frightened many people," Focus reports.
According to KH Security, a German manufacturer of self-defense products, demand is up by a factor of five, and sales in September 2015 — the month when the implications of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door migration policy began to dawn on many Germans — were the highest since the company was founded 25 years ago. The company says there is an increased demand not only for self-defense weapons, but also for home alarm systems.
Another manufacturer of self-defense products, the Frankfurt-based company DEF-TEC Defense Technology, has reported a 600% increase in sales this fall. According to CEO Kai Prase:
"Things took off beginning in September. Since then, our dealers have been totally overrun. We have never experienced anything like this in the 21 years of our corporate history. Fear: This is not rational. The important term is: 'refugee crisis.'"
The same story is being repeated across Germany. According to the public broadcaster, Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, citizens in Saxony can regularly be seen queuing up in large numbers waiting for gun shops to open.
A store owner in the Saxon town of Pirna said he is now selling up to 200 cans of pepper spray each day, compared to five cans a week before the migrant crisis began. He said he is seeing many new customers who are not the typical clientele, including women of all ages and men who are buying weapons for their wives.
Günter Fritz, the owner of a gun shop in Ebersbach, another town in Saxony, told RTL News, "Since September, all over Germany, also at my shop, sales of self-defense products have exploded." He added that his clients come from all walks of life, ranging "from the professor to the retired lady. All are afraid."
Andreas Reinhardt, a gun shop owner in the northern German town of Eutin, said he now sells four to five self-defense weapons each day, compared to around two per month before the recent influx of asylum seekers. "The current social upheaval is clearly driving the current rush to self-defense," he said. "I never thought that fear would spread so quickly," he added.
Eric Thiel, the owner of a gun shop in Flensburg, a city on the Baltic Sea coast, said that pepper spray is no longer available: "Everything is sold out. New supplies will not arrive until March. Everything that has to do with self-defense is booming enormously."
Wolfgang Mayer, the owner of a gun shop in Nördlingen, a town in Bavaria, http://www.augsburger-allgemeine.de/noerdlingen/Haende-hoch-id36334002.html (said) he has an explanation for the surge in gun licenses: "I think with the influx of refugees, the rise in break-ins and the many tricksters, the people are demanding greater protection."
Mayer added that there is a growing sense within German society that the state cannot adequately protect its citizens and therefore they have to better protect themselves. "Since the summer, sales of pepper spray have increased by 50%," Mayer said, adding that buyers are mainly women, of all ages — from the student in the city up to the widowed grandmother.
Pepper spray and other types of non-lethal self-defense weapons are legal in Germany, but a permit is required to carry and use some categories of them. Officials in all of Germany's 16 federal states are reporting a spike in applications for such permits, known as the small weapons license (kleinen Waffenschein).
In the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, nearly 10,000 people now hold a small weapons license, an "all-time record level," according to the regional interior ministry. Retailers in the state are also reporting an "unprecedented surge" in sales of self-defense weapons, with supplies of pepper spray sold out until the spring of 2016.
In Saxony, retailers are reporting an unprecedented boom in sales of pepper spray, tear gas, gas pistols and even cross bows. Some stores are now selling more self-defense weapons in one day than they did in an entire month before the migrant crisis began.
Saxon officials are also http://www.dnn.de/Mitteldeutschland/News/Immer-mehr-Sachsen-wollen-erlaubnispflichtige-Waffen a jump in the number of people applying for the full-fledged firearms license (großen Waffenschein). The rush to arms can be attributed to a "subjective decline in the people's sense of security," Saxon Interior Minister Markus Ulbig said.
In Berlin, the number of people holding a small weapons license increased by 30% during the first ten months of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014, while the number of those holding the full-fledged firearms license jumped by some 50%, https://www.rbb-online.de/panorama/beitrag/2015/11/berliner-und-brandenburger-kaufen-mehr-waffen-als-im-vorjahr.html to local police.
In Bavaria, more than 45,000 people now hold a small weapons license, 3,000 more than in 2014. This represents a "significant increase," according to the regional interior ministry. As in other parts of Germany, Bavarian retailers are also reporting a boom in sales of self-defense weapons, including gas pistols, flare guns and pepper spray.
In Stuttgart, the capital city of Baden-Württemberg, local gun shops are reporting a four-fold increase in sales of self-defense weapons since August. One shop owner said she now sells more weapons in one week than she normally sells in one month. She added that she has never seen such high demand.
In Heilbronn, another city in Baden-Württemberg, local officials report that sales of pepper spray have doubled in 2015. According to one shopkeeper, the demand for pepper spray began surging in August, when many mothers started purchasing the product for their school-aged daughters. "Our clients are extremely afraid," the shopkeeper said. "We are seeing this everywhere."
In Gera, a city in Thuringia, local media reported that at one store, the entire inventory of 120 cans of pepper spray was sold out within three hours. The store, which subsequently sold out of another batch of 144 cans, is now on a waiting list to obtain more because of supplier shortfalls.
A woman in Gera who bought pepper spray for her 16-year-old daughter said:
"I think it is fundamentally proper for me to protect my daughter. She is at that age where she is out alone in the evening. If she says she needs this for protection, I think this is not unjustified. Of course, due to the current situation that we now have in Germany. We just do not know who is here. There are quite a lot of people who are not registered."
The same trend toward self-defense is being repeated in the German states of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony-Anhalt and http://www.express.de/news/panorama/sicherheits-angst-immer-mehr-deutsche-bewaffnen-sich-23218128, where spiraling levels of violent crime perpetrated by migrants is turning some neighborhoods into no-go zones.
Apologists for mass migration are accusing German citizens of overreacting. Some point to recent studies — commissioned by pro-migration groups — which claim, implausibly, that the number of crimes committed by migrants is decreasing, not increasing.
Others https://www.rbb-online.de/panorama/beitrag/2015/11/berliner-und-brandenburger-kaufen-mehr-waffen-als-im-vorjahr.html that the rush to self-defense has anything to do with migrants at all. They blame a variety of different factors, including the early darkness associated with the end of daylight savings time, the jihadist attacks in Paris (which occurred in November, three months after sales of self-defense weapons began to spike), and the need for protection from wild wolves in parts of northern Germany.
The Süddeutsche Zeitung described the deception this way:
"Anyone who asks for the reasons for the surge in weapons purchases encounters silence. Officially, the regulatory agencies say that anyone who applies for the small weapons license does not need to provide a justification and therefore the government offices have no explanation. 'But it is true that sometimes we clearly get the message that they are afraid because of the refugees,' says one, on condition that his name and office will not be mentioned in the newspaper. 'People have already told me: I want to protect my family.' We have reported this to the Ministry...
"The retailers also say nothing officially about the reasons for the increase in sales. Call a small gun shop. Many refugees arrived at the end of August, and since September the numbers are up, can there not be a connection? 'If you do not use my name: Sure, what else?' Says the man on the phone. The people who come to the store are afraid. They believe that among the refugees there are 'black sheep.' Some customers openly admit it."
Empirical evidence shows an indisputable nationwide spike in migrant-driven crime, including rapes of German women and girls on a shocking scale, as well as sexual and physical assaults, stabbings, home invasions, robberies, burglaries and drug trafficking.
The spike in violent crimes committed by migrants has been corroborated by a confidential police report leaked to a German newspaper. The document reveals that a record-breaking 38,000 asylum seekers were accused of committing crimes in the country in 2014. Analysts believe this figure — which works out to more than 100 crimes a day — is only a fragment: many crimes are not reported.
Not surprisingly, a new poll shows that 55% of Germans are pessimistic about the future, up from 31% in 2014 and 28% in 2013. The poll shows that 42% of those between the ages of 14 and 34 believe their future will be bleak; this is more than double the number of those (19%) who felt this way in 2013. At the same time, 64% of those aged 55 and above are fearful about the future.
The poll also shows that four-fifths (79%) of the German population believe the economy will deteriorate in 2016 due to the financial burdens created by the migration crisis, and 70% believe that member states of the European Union will drift further apart in the coming year. The most predictable finding of all: 87% of Germans believe their politicians will experience a decline in public support during 2016.
John R. Bolton
Chairman, Gatestone Institute
John R. Bolton is Chairman of the Gatestone Institute. Before serving as the United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations (2005-2006), Ambassador Bolton was Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security (2001-2005). Bolton also served in the administrations of President Ronald Reagan and President George H. W. Bush. His many accomplishments include the rescission of the UN's 1975 "Zionism is racism" resolution, U.S. renunciation of the International Criminal Court and the establishment of the Proliferation Security Initiative. Ambassador Bolton is a Senior Fellow with the American Enterprise Institute and a Fox News contributor.
I must be missing something. What does that article have to do with Bolton?
Gatestone Institute
Yes, I know. But I really doubt he contributed to that particular article. I'm no fan of Bolton, or even Kern for that mater, but with only a couple of exceptions Kern's article was very fact based. He didn't need to misrepresent much because the facts speak for themselves. He did mix the violent/non-violent crime statistics to get a more extreme result; not the worst embellishment I've seen from either side.
insaiyan93
New Member
Sketchy subject. You wanna do the right thing, but you never know what's gonna happen
tenpoundsleft
Member
You didn't get the memo? It's the liberal guilt by association theme. Key words like "Fox" (which is odd really since it's not a conservative media outlet) and "Reagan" and "Bush" are all you need to "feel" a preprogrammed aversion. Thinking is actively discouraged.
Similarly, if the source is NPR, NYT, or said by unbiased news anchors like Stefanopoulous or neutral sources like James Carville it's all good.
As you can see, no attempt is needed to refute any facts - and both MDs march in lockstep in this area. No point in engaging with them, closed minds.
tenpoundsleft
Member
Germans Stock Up on Weapons for Self-Defense
by Soeren Kern
December 21, 2015 at 5:00 am
Germans, facing an influx of more than one million asylum seekers from Africa, Asia and the Middle East, are rushing to arm themselves.
- The scramble to acquire weapons comes amid an indisputable nationwide spike in migrant-driven crime, including rapes of German women and girls on a shocking scale, as well as physical assaults, stabbings, home invasions, robberies and burglaries — in cities and towns throughout the country.
- German authorities, however, are going to great lengths to argue that the German citizenry's sudden interest in self-defense has nothing whatsoever to do with mass migration into the country, despite ample evidence to the contrary.
- The spike in violent crimes committed by migrants has been corroborated by a leaked confidential police report, which reveals that a record-breaking 38,000 asylum seekers were accused of committing crimes in the country in 2014. Analysts believe this figure — which works out to more than 100 crimes a day — is only a fragment: many crimes are not reported.
- "Anyone who asks for the reasons for the surge in weapons purchases encounters silence." — Süddeutsche Zeitung
All across Germany, a country with some of the most stringent gun-control laws in Europe, demand is skyrocketing for non-lethal self-defense weapons, including pepper sprays, gas pistols, flare guns, electroshock weapons and animal repellants. Germans are also applying for weapons permits in record numbers.
The scramble to acquire weapons comes amid a migrant-driven surge in violent crimes — including rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults — in cities and towns throughout the country.
German authorities, however, are going to great lengths to argue that the German citizenry's sudden interest in self-defense has nothing whatsoever to do with mass migration into the country, despite ample evidence to the contrary.
In recent weeks, German newspapers have published dozens of stories with headlines such as: "Germany is Afraid — And Grabs for the Weapon," "Germans are Arming Themselves: The Demand for Weapons Explodes," "More and More People are Buying a Weapon," "http://www.augsburger-allgemeine.de/noerdlingen/Haende-hoch-id36334002.html (Security: Hands Up!)" "The Need for Security Increases," "http://www.daserste.de/information/politik-weltgeschehen/mittagsmagazin/sendung/waffen-selbstschutz-pefferspray-gas-100.html," and "Bavarians are Arming Themselves— Afraid of Refugees?"
The German daily newspaper Die Welt recently produced a video report about Germany's surge in sales of self-defense weapons, which was titled "The Weapons Business is Profiting from the Refugee Crisis." (Image source: Die Welt video screenshot)
Since Germany's migration crisis exploded in August 2015, nationwide sales of pepper spray have jumped by 600%, according to the German newsmagazine, Focus. Supplies of the product are now completely sold out in many parts of the country and additional stocks will not become available until 2016. "Manufacturers and distributors say the huge influx of foreigners in recent weeks has apparently frightened many people," Focus reports.
According to KH Security, a German manufacturer of self-defense products, demand is up by a factor of five, and sales in September 2015 — the month when the implications of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door migration policy began to dawn on many Germans — were the highest since the company was founded 25 years ago. The company says there is an increased demand not only for self-defense weapons, but also for home alarm systems.
Another manufacturer of self-defense products, the Frankfurt-based company DEF-TEC Defense Technology, has reported a 600% increase in sales this fall. According to CEO Kai Prase:
"Things took off beginning in September. Since then, our dealers have been totally overrun. We have never experienced anything like this in the 21 years of our corporate history. Fear: This is not rational. The important term is: 'refugee crisis.'"
The same story is being repeated across Germany. According to the public broadcaster, Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, citizens in Saxony can regularly be seen queuing up in large numbers waiting for gun shops to open.
A store owner in the Saxon town of Pirna said he is now selling up to 200 cans of pepper spray each day, compared to five cans a week before the migrant crisis began. He said he is seeing many new customers who are not the typical clientele, including women of all ages and men who are buying weapons for their wives.
Günter Fritz, the owner of a gun shop in Ebersbach, another town in Saxony, told RTL News, "Since September, all over Germany, also at my shop, sales of self-defense products have exploded." He added that his clients come from all walks of life, ranging "from the professor to the retired lady. All are afraid."
Andreas Reinhardt, a gun shop owner in the northern German town of Eutin, said he now sells four to five self-defense weapons each day, compared to around two per month before the recent influx of asylum seekers. "The current social upheaval is clearly driving the current rush to self-defense," he said. "I never thought that fear would spread so quickly," he added.
Eric Thiel, the owner of a gun shop in Flensburg, a city on the Baltic Sea coast, said that pepper spray is no longer available: "Everything is sold out. New supplies will not arrive until March. Everything that has to do with self-defense is booming enormously."
Wolfgang Mayer, the owner of a gun shop in Nördlingen, a town in Bavaria, http://www.augsburger-allgemeine.de/noerdlingen/Haende-hoch-id36334002.html (said) he has an explanation for the surge in gun licenses: "I think with the influx of refugees, the rise in break-ins and the many tricksters, the people are demanding greater protection."
Mayer added that there is a growing sense within German society that the state cannot adequately protect its citizens and therefore they have to better protect themselves. "Since the summer, sales of pepper spray have increased by 50%," Mayer said, adding that buyers are mainly women, of all ages — from the student in the city up to the widowed grandmother.
Pepper spray and other types of non-lethal self-defense weapons are legal in Germany, but a permit is required to carry and use some categories of them. Officials in all of Germany's 16 federal states are reporting a spike in applications for such permits, known as the small weapons license (kleinen Waffenschein).
In the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, nearly 10,000 people now hold a small weapons license, an "all-time record level," according to the regional interior ministry. Retailers in the state are also reporting an "unprecedented surge" in sales of self-defense weapons, with supplies of pepper spray sold out until the spring of 2016.
In Saxony, retailers are reporting an unprecedented boom in sales of pepper spray, tear gas, gas pistols and even cross bows. Some stores are now selling more self-defense weapons in one day than they did in an entire month before the migrant crisis began.
Saxon officials are also http://www.dnn.de/Mitteldeutschland/News/Immer-mehr-Sachsen-wollen-erlaubnispflichtige-Waffen a jump in the number of people applying for the full-fledged firearms license (großen Waffenschein). The rush to arms can be attributed to a "subjective decline in the people's sense of security," Saxon Interior Minister Markus Ulbig said.
In Berlin, the number of people holding a small weapons license increased by 30% during the first ten months of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014, while the number of those holding the full-fledged firearms license jumped by some 50%, https://www.rbb-online.de/panorama/beitrag/2015/11/berliner-und-brandenburger-kaufen-mehr-waffen-als-im-vorjahr.html to local police.
In Bavaria, more than 45,000 people now hold a small weapons license, 3,000 more than in 2014. This represents a "significant increase," according to the regional interior ministry. As in other parts of Germany, Bavarian retailers are also reporting a boom in sales of self-defense weapons, including gas pistols, flare guns and pepper spray.
In Stuttgart, the capital city of Baden-Württemberg, local gun shops are reporting a four-fold increase in sales of self-defense weapons since August. One shop owner said she now sells more weapons in one week than she normally sells in one month. She added that she has never seen such high demand.
In Heilbronn, another city in Baden-Württemberg, local officials report that sales of pepper spray have doubled in 2015. According to one shopkeeper, the demand for pepper spray began surging in August, when many mothers started purchasing the product for their school-aged daughters. "Our clients are extremely afraid," the shopkeeper said. "We are seeing this everywhere."
In Gera, a city in Thuringia, local media reported that at one store, the entire inventory of 120 cans of pepper spray was sold out within three hours. The store, which subsequently sold out of another batch of 144 cans, is now on a waiting list to obtain more because of supplier shortfalls.
A woman in Gera who bought pepper spray for her 16-year-old daughter said:
"I think it is fundamentally proper for me to protect my daughter. She is at that age where she is out alone in the evening. If she says she needs this for protection, I think this is not unjustified. Of course, due to the current situation that we now have in Germany. We just do not know who is here. There are quite a lot of people who are not registered."
The same trend toward self-defense is being repeated in the German states of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony-Anhalt and http://www.express.de/news/panorama/sicherheits-angst-immer-mehr-deutsche-bewaffnen-sich-23218128, where spiraling levels of violent crime perpetrated by migrants is turning some neighborhoods into no-go zones.
Apologists for mass migration are accusing German citizens of overreacting. Some point to recent studies — commissioned by pro-migration groups — which claim, implausibly, that the number of crimes committed by migrants is decreasing, not increasing.
Others https://www.rbb-online.de/panorama/beitrag/2015/11/berliner-und-brandenburger-kaufen-mehr-waffen-als-im-vorjahr.html that the rush to self-defense has anything to do with migrants at all. They blame a variety of different factors, including the early darkness associated with the end of daylight savings time, the jihadist attacks in Paris (which occurred in November, three months after sales of self-defense weapons began to spike), and the need for protection from wild wolves in parts of northern Germany.
The Süddeutsche Zeitung described the deception this way:
"Anyone who asks for the reasons for the surge in weapons purchases encounters silence. Officially, the regulatory agencies say that anyone who applies for the small weapons license does not need to provide a justification and therefore the government offices have no explanation. 'But it is true that sometimes we clearly get the message that they are afraid because of the refugees,' says one, on condition that his name and office will not be mentioned in the newspaper. 'People have already told me: I want to protect my family.' We have reported this to the Ministry...
"The retailers also say nothing officially about the reasons for the increase in sales. Call a small gun shop. Many refugees arrived at the end of August, and since September the numbers are up, can there not be a connection? 'If you do not use my name: Sure, what else?' Says the man on the phone. The people who come to the store are afraid. They believe that among the refugees there are 'black sheep.' Some customers openly admit it."
Empirical evidence shows an indisputable nationwide spike in migrant-driven crime, including rapes of German women and girls on a shocking scale, as well as sexual and physical assaults, stabbings, home invasions, robberies, burglaries and drug trafficking.
The spike in violent crimes committed by migrants has been corroborated by a confidential police report leaked to a German newspaper. The document reveals that a record-breaking 38,000 asylum seekers were accused of committing crimes in the country in 2014. Analysts believe this figure — which works out to more than 100 crimes a day — is only a fragment: many crimes are not reported.
Not surprisingly, a new poll shows that 55% of Germans are pessimistic about the future, up from 31% in 2014 and 28% in 2013. The poll shows that 42% of those between the ages of 14 and 34 believe their future will be bleak; this is more than double the number of those (19%) who felt this way in 2013. At the same time, 64% of those aged 55 and above are fearful about the future.
The poll also shows that four-fifths (79%) of the German population believe the economy will deteriorate in 2016 due to the financial burdens created by the migration crisis, and 70% believe that member states of the European Union will drift further apart in the coming year. The most predictable finding of all: 87% of Germans believe their politicians will experience a decline in public support during 2016.
Maybe time for the Germans to get rid of another Hitler Era law (which built on earlier socialist restrictions)? Lefties and fascists, same thing.
Then German gun laws were further screwed up in the hippie era of the early 70s . The Red Brigade days - proving as always that only outlaws have guns when guns are outlawed.
Time for Germans to get some 2nd Amendment rights. Looks like they will need them.
That's a fair description of both conservatives and liberals - as they are defined today.
Back around 1992 while I was working in Germany I remember a news story about two men who broke into a farmer's house and sexually assaulted his wife and daughter. The farmer killed them both with a legally owned shotgun, but was promptly arrested, tried and (I think) convicted of murder.
tenpoundsleft
Member
Yep, they're crazy over there - not just in Germany, the same illogic goes for all of Europe, possibly Switzerland is a little better. When seconds matter, the police are minutes away - and don't you dare try to defend yourself or your loved ones. Fools.
tenpoundsleft
Member
Come on - now you sound like the "independents" aka closet pinkoes. There is NO similarity for any others than lefties - with few exceptions they completely control media, academia and Hollywood. The few exceptions are those that get vilified - at the kneejerk level.
I agree that there is a definition problem though - a good number of "conservatives" are Big Government RINOs, just listen to Kasich, not much air between him and Sanders. Populist idiots. The main difference is the product mix, they all enjoy feeding from the trough. The RINOs aren't particularly focused on the PC thought crimes however, which makes them more tolerable. Not that media wants to acknowledge the similarities - thinking is bad!
Ha, I don't fit into any political box you are likely to be familiar with. Both the left and right worship the state and absolutely require some form of media mouth piece to tell them what to think.
tenpoundsleft
Member
Don't be so sure, I'm a paleo-libertarian myself, so used to always holding my nose when voting.
You avoided my analysis and reverted to the leftist gospel - so I presume you're an "independent" then...
You could say I'm a fan of Rothbard's ideology but not his political movement. I think the two are incompatible. I'm not an "independent". Voting violates the NAP, so I don't. I also know enough statistics to understand that individual voters have zero power in any sort of democracy.
Not sure what analysis I avoided. If you mean the definition problem, I disagree. There are always a minority of conservatives and liberals that cling to a past definition while the masses march forward on whatever populist movements the media happens to be pushing. It's not different this time.
Incidentally, as a paleo-libertarian you should be aware Rothbard in his later years was a strong proponent of the left; believed it had more in common with his political goals than the right. He also despised Regan; considered him to be a complete idiot and occasionally raged at the media for protecting him.
tenpoundsleft
Member
Huh - voting violates the NAP? That's such a purist line of thinking that it's naive at best. Sorry. Rand Paul vs his father - to change the game you have to play it. What's the alternative - revolution? That's rather upsetting NAP too, don't you think?
Rothbard got in bed with the left in the 60s, but got out in the 70s (I think it was), presumably he didn't like all the fleas that came with it.
I enjoy reading Rockwell more. And the paleo-libertarian label is just what's closest to what I think. Actually, I don't like anarcho-libertarians beyond a point - they start to argue like Marxists, all common sense gone. We live in an imperfect world, where most people, per definition, are idiots. Too bad they all get to vote.
So on the Muslim invasion topic then - your vote is no, keep them out?
What's wrong with sticking to one's principles? FYI, I don't cheat on my wife either, even when I'm on travel and she couldn't possibly find out.
No one wins the game you are playing, no one. And no, revolution isn't an alternative, just a different form of the same thing.
I didn't think he ever got out, fleas notwithstanding.
I like Rockwell's site, though the last couple of years I've run into more and more inaccuracies. A couple of times I used the site for reference links in arguments without verifying facts and was badly embarrassed as a result. I still visit every day.
If I had a vote, it would be no.
Crisis talks in Cologne after reports of New Year's Eve sex attacks
Scores of women say they were sexually assaulted and mugged by groups of men largely of Arab and north African appearance
Kate Connolly in Berlin
Tuesday 5 January 2016
German police are investigating reports that scores of women were sexually assaulted and mugged in Cologne city centre during New Year’s Eve celebrations, in what a spokesman called a “completely new dimension of crime”.
Authorities and media were accused of a cover-up linked to initial indications that those allegedly responsible for the attacks, which also included numerous robberies, were of Arab and north African origin, according to the police.
Sixty complaints were filed to police, a third of which were linked to sexual assault. Cologne’s mayor, Henriette Reker, called an emergency meeting of high-ranking security officials on Tuesday, saying her aim was to ensure the city centre did not turn into a “lawless zone”.
Between 500 and 1,000 men described as drunk and aggressive are believed to have been behind the attacks on partygoers in the centre of the western German city. Whether they were working as a single group or in separate gangs remains unclear.
Women reported being tightly surrounded by groups of men who harassed and mugged them. Some people threw fireworks into the crowds, adding to the chaos.
“Sexual crimes took place on a huge scale,” said the police president, Wolfgang Albers. “The crimes were committed by a group of people who from appearance were largely from the north African or Arab world.”
He said one of the victims had been raped. A volunteer policewoman was among those said to have been sexually assaulted.
Officers are working on the assumption that the men had organised their plan of attack. They said many of the perpetrators were known to them and some may have been asylum seekers, though not new arrivals to Germany.
Similar attacks are believed to have taken place on a smaller scale in Hamburg’s red light district of St Pauli on New Year’s Eve, according to a police spokesman.
In Cologne, police said the men appeared to have come from Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia and were on average in their mid-20s. They had gathered on the square in front of the main train station next to the city’s towering Gothic cathedral and smaller groups of men appeared to repeatedly leave the group to target female revellers, many of whom had arrived via train from the provinces around Cologne to celebrate the new year in the city.
Heiko Maas, Germany’s justice minister, condemned the attacks and called for better police protection in German cities. “The despicable attacks on women will not be tolerated. This is obviously a whole new dimension of organised crime,” he tweeted.
Barbara Steffens, the minister for emancipation in the North Rhine Westphalia (NRW) government, said the New Year’s Eve incident was “the tip of a very unpleasant iceberg”. She called for a “larger societal condemnation of a male abuse of power”.
The density of the crowds in Cologne meant that hundreds of police were deployed on Thursday night. Questions are being asked as to how they failed to realise until much later that crimes were taking place on such a large scale. Police say the full extent of the attacks only became clear in the following days as increasing numbers of victims began to come forward. It is believed that many women have yet to report assaults, and police appealed for people who had not already done so to come forward.
Arnold Plickert, head of the police trade union in NRW, told the Deutsche Presse Agentur that the incidents were “of a new quality … What we’ve been able to establish is that this is an organised method.”
He said questions needed to be asked as to “how it was possible that this thousand-strong group was able to come to Cologne and meet up there”.
Police in Hamburg said some aspects of the attackers’ methods were akin to those of skilled pickpockets operating in the city.
Officers of Operation New Year, set up to investigate the attacks, will examine CCTV footage from in and around the station in an effort to identify perpetrators. Reker said a discussion on installing further cameras would form part of her emergency talks.
One of the victims, identified only as Katja L, told the Kölner Express: “When we came out of the station, we were very surprised by the group we met, which was made up only of foreign men … We walked through the group of men, there was a tunnel through them, we walked through … I was groped everywhere. It was a nightmare. Although we shouted and hit them, they men didn’t stop. I was horrified and I think I was touched around 100 times over the 200 metres.”
One investigator told the Kölner Express: “The female victims were so badly pushed about, they had heavy bruises on their breasts and behinds.”
Critics of Angela Merkel’s open-door policy on refugees were quick to blame it for the attacks, despite the police’s insistence that the alleged perpetrators were not new arrivals.
One tweet attributed to a follower of Pegida, the anti-Islam, anti-immigrant protest group , stated: “Merkel … you’re an accessory to the abuse at Cologne.”
On Pegida’s Facebook page, a woman identifying herself as Angelina Southern got more than 500 likes for her comment: “I could puke when I read this, and there are still so many deluded idiots who say ‘Welcome refugees’ … Close the borders now. For God’s sake, Merkel belongs on the scaffold.”
The attacks have been the main talking point on Twitter in Germany, with some people accusing the media of a cover-up and others expressing their concern that the incident would be seized on by anti-refugee groups.
On New Year’s Eve worldwide attention had been focused on the southern German city of Munich where areas around the main station and another station outside the centre were closed after intelligence reports indicated that Islamic State supporters planned to launch attacks. It followed the cancellation of a football match in the northern city of Hanover in November after a French tipoff that Isis planned to target the stadium.
In October, Reker, was the victim of a vicious attack over her refugee-friendly policies when she was stabbed in the neck by a man during her campaign as an independent candidate for the mayorship.
Each subsequent incident has prompted an escalation in the fierce debate over whether Germany is making itself more vulnerable due to its refugee policy.
Scores of women say they were sexually assaulted and mugged by groups of men largely of Arab and north African appearance
Kate Connolly in Berlin
Tuesday 5 January 2016
German police are investigating reports that scores of women were sexually assaulted and mugged in Cologne city centre during New Year’s Eve celebrations, in what a spokesman called a “completely new dimension of crime”.
Authorities and media were accused of a cover-up linked to initial indications that those allegedly responsible for the attacks, which also included numerous robberies, were of Arab and north African origin, according to the police.
Sixty complaints were filed to police, a third of which were linked to sexual assault. Cologne’s mayor, Henriette Reker, called an emergency meeting of high-ranking security officials on Tuesday, saying her aim was to ensure the city centre did not turn into a “lawless zone”.
Between 500 and 1,000 men described as drunk and aggressive are believed to have been behind the attacks on partygoers in the centre of the western German city. Whether they were working as a single group or in separate gangs remains unclear.
Women reported being tightly surrounded by groups of men who harassed and mugged them. Some people threw fireworks into the crowds, adding to the chaos.
“Sexual crimes took place on a huge scale,” said the police president, Wolfgang Albers. “The crimes were committed by a group of people who from appearance were largely from the north African or Arab world.”
He said one of the victims had been raped. A volunteer policewoman was among those said to have been sexually assaulted.
Officers are working on the assumption that the men had organised their plan of attack. They said many of the perpetrators were known to them and some may have been asylum seekers, though not new arrivals to Germany.
Similar attacks are believed to have taken place on a smaller scale in Hamburg’s red light district of St Pauli on New Year’s Eve, according to a police spokesman.
In Cologne, police said the men appeared to have come from Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia and were on average in their mid-20s. They had gathered on the square in front of the main train station next to the city’s towering Gothic cathedral and smaller groups of men appeared to repeatedly leave the group to target female revellers, many of whom had arrived via train from the provinces around Cologne to celebrate the new year in the city.
Heiko Maas, Germany’s justice minister, condemned the attacks and called for better police protection in German cities. “The despicable attacks on women will not be tolerated. This is obviously a whole new dimension of organised crime,” he tweeted.
Barbara Steffens, the minister for emancipation in the North Rhine Westphalia (NRW) government, said the New Year’s Eve incident was “the tip of a very unpleasant iceberg”. She called for a “larger societal condemnation of a male abuse of power”.
The density of the crowds in Cologne meant that hundreds of police were deployed on Thursday night. Questions are being asked as to how they failed to realise until much later that crimes were taking place on such a large scale. Police say the full extent of the attacks only became clear in the following days as increasing numbers of victims began to come forward. It is believed that many women have yet to report assaults, and police appealed for people who had not already done so to come forward.
Arnold Plickert, head of the police trade union in NRW, told the Deutsche Presse Agentur that the incidents were “of a new quality … What we’ve been able to establish is that this is an organised method.”
He said questions needed to be asked as to “how it was possible that this thousand-strong group was able to come to Cologne and meet up there”.
Police in Hamburg said some aspects of the attackers’ methods were akin to those of skilled pickpockets operating in the city.
Officers of Operation New Year, set up to investigate the attacks, will examine CCTV footage from in and around the station in an effort to identify perpetrators. Reker said a discussion on installing further cameras would form part of her emergency talks.
One of the victims, identified only as Katja L, told the Kölner Express: “When we came out of the station, we were very surprised by the group we met, which was made up only of foreign men … We walked through the group of men, there was a tunnel through them, we walked through … I was groped everywhere. It was a nightmare. Although we shouted and hit them, they men didn’t stop. I was horrified and I think I was touched around 100 times over the 200 metres.”
One investigator told the Kölner Express: “The female victims were so badly pushed about, they had heavy bruises on their breasts and behinds.”
Critics of Angela Merkel’s open-door policy on refugees were quick to blame it for the attacks, despite the police’s insistence that the alleged perpetrators were not new arrivals.
One tweet attributed to a follower of Pegida, the anti-Islam, anti-immigrant protest group , stated: “Merkel … you’re an accessory to the abuse at Cologne.”
On Pegida’s Facebook page, a woman identifying herself as Angelina Southern got more than 500 likes for her comment: “I could puke when I read this, and there are still so many deluded idiots who say ‘Welcome refugees’ … Close the borders now. For God’s sake, Merkel belongs on the scaffold.”
The attacks have been the main talking point on Twitter in Germany, with some people accusing the media of a cover-up and others expressing their concern that the incident would be seized on by anti-refugee groups.
On New Year’s Eve worldwide attention had been focused on the southern German city of Munich where areas around the main station and another station outside the centre were closed after intelligence reports indicated that Islamic State supporters planned to launch attacks. It followed the cancellation of a football match in the northern city of Hanover in November after a French tipoff that Isis planned to target the stadium.
In October, Reker, was the victim of a vicious attack over her refugee-friendly policies when she was stabbed in the neck by a man during her campaign as an independent candidate for the mayorship.
Each subsequent incident has prompted an escalation in the fierce debate over whether Germany is making itself more vulnerable due to its refugee policy.
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