Cologne is still reeling after the chaotic events of New Year’s Eve leading to 80 sexual assaults being reported to the city’s police forces.
In an internal police report obtained by German paper Der Spiegel, the scene was described as ‘chaos’ with officers bombarded with glass bottles and fireworks, and distraught women forced to make their own way through the crowd of drunken men.
Cologne police have received over 100 complaints since the attacks on December 31st, and the event saw officers completely overwhelmed.
It became almost impossible for the perpetrators of crimes, particularly sexual assaults to be identified:”Security forces were unable to get all of the incidents, assaults, crimes, etc. under control. There were simply too many happening at the same time.”
The BBC report that 16 suspects have been identified, but no new arrests have yet been made.
The Cologne Chief of Police, Wolfgang Albers described the seemingly coordinated attacks as ‘a new dimension of crime.’
