The riverfront area along the Rhine in Cologne is becoming more and more violent and unruly as it becomes more and more culturally enriched. The situation has become so bad that Mayor Reker has had to address it.

Many thanks to Nash Montana for translating this article from Bild:

Rhine boulevard on the Rhine becoming too brutal

Mayor Henriette Reker talks to BILD

Cologne — The Rhine Boulevard degrades into a brutal place. Over and over again on sunny weekends it becomes unruly: insults, mass brawls, drugs. One 17-year-old was stabbed in the back. The police file “Rhine Boulevard” keeps getting bigger and bigger.

The 17-year-old was peacefully celebrating on the 25-Milion-Euro-Mile in Deutz. Only a few hours later a witness told the man that he was bleeding. Someone stabbed him in the back when he wanted to mediate in a fight. It was a mild consequence in a place where things have become more and more extreme.

Here’s a look at last weekend. From Friday to Saturday the police controlled [did ID checks on] 47 people. 34 people were expelled from the place. From Saturday to Sunday there were 44 controls, and 18 expulsions.

The police wrote up reports all weekend — for violation of narcotic laws, for insult against the police, for bodily harm, for theft. And it is also logged that the majority of those controlled were men with a migration background, say the police.

Security at Rhine Boulevard? Not nearly! BILD noticed that security forces disappeared after 8:30pm. And the police couldn’t be on location continuously. No consequential surveillance, but one big free license for criminal and other activity!

The man who stabbed the 17-year-old on Friday evening could not be found. The police are still hoping for witnesses. The suspect, about 20 years old, was around 1.80 meters tall and had black hair. The sides were shaved short, and on top of his head the hair was tied into a knot. He had a full beard and wore a blue-jean jacket.

Meanwhile politicians also have begun to deal with the topic “Rhine Boulevard”. The parties are going to discuss tighter security measures on Tuesday at a meeting.

Henriette Reker, Mayor, (60, no party affiliation) stated to BILD concerning the problems at Rhine Boulevard: “I find it shocking that this beautiful place is being misused for bad behavior. It just can’t be that a certain circle of people abuses the Domblick for their out-of-control alcohol and drug consumption and therefore are behaving extremely aggressively.”

The mayor said: “All in all, the situation has to be improved. We are trying to do that now with an increased deployment of security forces together with increased police presence. Furthermore, we will consider a shisha ban at Rhine boulevard. And the public toilets will have to be considered as well.”