Cologne Carnival Opens With 22 Sexual Assaults During ‘Ladies Night’

A journalist covering the carnival in Cologne, Germany was groped during a live broadcast bringing that city back in the spotlight with regard to the rising number of sexual assault cases being reported.

A woman reporting from the city center for a Belgian broadcaster was groped live on television, and police are searching for a suspect.

The rise in the number of sexual complaints might be attributed to the women’s “willingness” to report incidents, Michael Temme Cologne’s police director said. Another grabbed her breast.

According to the Daily Mail, Labye said, “Then a hand landed on my breast”.

She said she turned round to her attacker and spoke to him in English, telling him: ‘You do this once, not twice.

“At first they were just making faces behind me. Don’t touch me. Don’t touch me'”.

“I have worked in Afghanistan and North Africa too, and nothing untoward ever happened to me as a white, female journalist”, she said Friday after the news of the attack.

“The three drunks didn’t seem to understand why I was angry, but they left without a word”.

She then spent two hours giving her statement and showing the footage to police and local politicians.

The organizers of the carnival also issued leaflets last week that included instructions for refugees and migrants in the city about sexual concent, kissing and urinating in public.

‘The police chief said that nothing serious happened during the day, ‘ she said.

The assaults were said to have been perpetrated by men of Middle Eastern and North African appearance and more than 1,000 complaints have been filed in relation to those incidents. New measures such as “safe zones” for women and 2,500 police officers on patrol were supposed to prevent a repeat of the attacks on New Year’s Eve. Over the last two days, 181 arrests have been made, with 18 sexual assaults being reported on the first night.