Somali-born writer Aayan Hirsi Ali sees Dec. 31, 2015 as a turning point in Europe’s fraught relationship with multiculturalism. On that date, 1,500 men, mostly newly arrived asylum seekers of Arab and North African backgrounds, converged on downtown Cologne, where thousands of Germans had gathered to welcome in the New Year. The men mobbed together to entrap and sexually assault women and girls, often stealing their wallets and mobile phones in the process. In the months that followed, 661 women and girls reported being separated from their male companions and being pushed inside “hell circles” of young men who groped them without regard to their age, appearance or circumstances. Some women said they were pinned to the ground for 30 minutes of continual assault.
On New Year’s Day, the Cologne police issued a statement that the evening had been largely peaceful. An outpouring of reports on social media left the authorities–and the media–no choice but to discuss the attacks publicly and release information on the background of the assailants.
