The Mayor of Cologne says women should adopt a “code of conduct” to prevent future attacks following trouble on New Year’s eve when women in the city centre were subjected to sexual assaults by hundreds of men.
In an interview with
RP Online, Ms Reker said: “It is important to prevent such incidents from ever happening again.”
The proposed code of conduct includes staying an arm’s length away from strangers, remaining within your own group, and asking bystanders for intervene or to help as a witness.
Such a code
for young women and girls was designed ”so that such things do not happen to them,” said Ms Reker, who added that it would soon be available online.
Her words immediately provoked anger among those who said she appeared to be blaming the victims for the attacks.
However, she also said that visitors from “other cultures” should also be educated on acceptable conduct.
“We need to prevent confusion about what constitutes happy behaviour and what is utterly separate from openness, especially in sexual behaviour,” she said.
Anti-immigration politicians have linked the crimes to
the million refugees that arrived in Germany during the past year.
“Is this the ‘cosmopolitan and colorful’ Germany that Merkel wished for?” asked Frauke Petry, leader of the nationalist party Alternative for Germany.
