Cologne’s mayor has been widely criticised for suggesting that women “keep at an arm’s length” from strangers to avoid sexual harassment, after scores of women were sexually abused and mugged in the city during new year celebrations.
Asked by a journalist how women could protect themselves, Henriette Reker said: “There’s always the possibility of keeping a certain distance of more than an arm’s length – that is to say to make sure yourself you don’t look to be too close to people who are not known to you, and to whom you don’t have a trusting relationship”.
The remarks came at a press conference at which Reker made her first public comments about the incidents on New Year’s Eve. About 90 women made complaints to police, many relating to sexual assault. Many reported having been surrounded by groups of drunk and aggressive men of north African or Arabic appearance who harassed and mugged them. One woman is believed to have been raped.
A police spokesman described the events as “a new dimension in crime”. About 1,000 men were gathered on the square in front of the city’s main station on Thursday night, although only a small number of them are believed to have been involved in the attacks.
Reker also advised women to “stick together in groups, don’t get split up, even if you’re in a party mood”.
Journalists at the press conference said the mayor had reacted with surprise to the initial question and her struggle for an answer demonstrated the extent to which it had caught her off guard.
Reker’s comments triggered outrage on social media. Reaction was trending under #einarmlaenge (an arm’s length).
Christopher Lauer, a politician, tweeted: “Man: “I had intended to mug this woman and molest her, but shit! She’s an arm’s length away from me!”
Alexander Nabert, a journalist, wrote: “This thing about an arm’s length – is it a rule of thumb?”
Another Twitter user, Marie von den Benken, wrote: “Frau Reker, the thing about the one arm’s length sounds more like one brain cell.”
The New Year’s Eve attacks were only widely covered by national media early this week, after police had initially reported no major incidents.
The German public broadcaster, ZDF, on Wednesday apologised for delays in reporting on the wave of sexual assaults and deciding to postpone a news segment until Tuesday. “The news situation was clear enough. It was a mistake of the 7pm ‘heute’ show not to at least report the incidents,” wrote deputy chief editor Elmar Thevessen on the show’s Facebook page.
As the assaults have come to dominate German mainstream media, more women have come forward in Cologne and other cities about being groped and attacked on New Year’s Eve.
The number of criminal complaints in Cologne topped 100 by Wednesday.
Next month, Cologne will celebrate carnival season, when thousands go on to the streets. The police, who have admitted major errors in the way they managed the incidents, say they will modify the way they oversee the forthcoming celebrations, including introducing more mobile video cameras.