New information has revealed that the actual number of sex assault cases that took place over New Year’s Eve was nearly three times the figure previously given out by police.
Earlier this year, Berlin police claimed that there had been 13 cases of sexual assault over New Year’s Eve but a new request for information from libertarian Free Democratic Party (FDP) politician Marcel Luthe has caused the police to substantially revise the number, Focus reports.
Police now say that there were at least 37 cases of sexual assault reported which puts the number just slightly above that of the previous year, rather than a decline as previously reported.
Most of the assaults took place in two of the city’s directorates, policing areas that cover between one and three districts, the central Mitte district, the migrant-populated district of Neukölln, and the far-left stronghold of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg.
FDP politician Luthe said that the level of sex attacks was “absolutely out of the question” and added that if it was not tackled properly it could harm tourism in the city.
Berlin made headlines shortly before the New Year when the city announced it would be setting up a tent staffed by Red Cross workers and others to allow women a safe space to go to if they had been victims of sex attacks. In total, five women used the facility.
A spokesman for the city’s New Year’s event claimed that in total the cost for security had exceeded 100,000 euros.
Sex attacks in Berlin are not limited to New Year’s Eve. In the Alexanderplatz area, located within the Mitte district, the number of sex attacks almost doubled from 2016 to 2017.
The area, which is the main transport hub in the centre of Berlin, has been referred to as developing into a no-go zone as migrant youth gangs have flocked there to sell drugs with violence and robberies becoming more and more common.
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