The same way it happened last New Year’s, though this time not quite as bad, rapes and mass brawls along with firework target practice has hit Germany’s Cologne. Again.

This time between 6pm on New Year’s Eve and 10am on New Year’s Day, the police of Cologne and Leverkusen recorded 249 criminal charges. A 28-year-old tourist from southern Germany was raped by a stranger in the toilets of a restaurant in Cologne’s Old Town. In addition, there were six other cases of sexual harassment according to the current state of investigations. The suspects were found in five of these cases.

Even these figures are not conclusive according to the police spokesperson.

“The crime figures presented in this balance sheet may still change. The listings are subject to the proviso that further reports may be received by the Cologne police or that offences maybe classified differently in the course of investigations,” Unfortunately if the last year was any indication, there will most likely be more reports, many more.

A Mass brawl in Cologne-Meschenich…

With the help of two police dogs, police were able to end a brawl in Meschenich. Apparently, guests of two private New Year’s Eve celebrations had clashed and fought each other on the street. (why Germans who are out celebrating the New Year would do this is, is a hard question to answer…maybe the wrong question…) The officers had to use pepper spray and call for reinforcements after they themselves had been attacked by individuals in their attempt to separate the two embattled groups. Police took three young men into custody and began investigations into dangerous assault and resistance. Firefighters drove a participant of the brawl to a nearby hospital. In Cologne-Mülheim, four young men were caught when they kicked off some car mirrors.

Fun With Fireworks in Essen

Bad accident on New Year’s Eve in Essen . Police report that two people (31 and 33) were critically injured. The police assume that self-made gunmen are the cause. On site, the police discovered more suitcases with home-made fireworks.. strange way for an average German to spend his or her New Year celebrations.



All in all some 5500 officers were deployed to ensure that the celebrations remain peaceful at the turn of the year in North Rhine-Westphalia. That’s twice as many forces as on a normal weekend. Among other things, with this measure, the NRW police did everything “so that something like Cologne’s New Year’s Eve night not be repeated,” said Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU).

Similar incidents have happened all throughout the West of the Old Continent. Some places where these things did not happen? Poland, Croatia, Czechia, Hungary…

A sad state of affairs but what’s encouraging is that all of these figures that were mentioned are all lower than they were in the years prior, so some improvement (what ever that means now) has occurred. But, as figures from all over the Continent say, there’s much more to be done.