Sexual assaults & ‘shocking’ violence involving migrants mar German town fair – police

Nasty events at a folk music festival in a German country town. From RT, the German edition of The Local and Deutsche Welle

Authorities in the town of Schorndorf in Baden-Württemberg have expressed shock after police and bystanders were attacked by members of a group of around 1,000 youths.

Police report that a group of around 1,000 teenagers and young men gathered on Saturday evening in the grounds of Schorndorf Castle, as the small town celebrated the second day of its week-long town fair. According to police, a large portion of the group had immigrant backgrounds. 

“The violence faced by police was shocking,” a police spokesperson said, adding that while it was normal for large numbers of youth to gather at the festival, the aggression was new. We have reports from criminals in London that the startling violence of recent arrivals from war torn parts of the Middle East  and Africa like Somalia has meant that they have had to quickly learn to increase their own aggression to compete.

Police then called for backup. More officers arrived at the scene in riot gear, “to shield the arrest and to prevent an attack.” As officers withdrew from the scene, they were again attacked with bottles. Eventually police called in support from nearby towns to counteract what they described as “massive potential for violence.”

Throughout the night, groups of between 30 to 50 young men were seen acting aggressively in the medieval town centre. Eyewitnesses reported seeing people armed with knives, while one man was said to have fired a shot from a blank-firing gun. Police reported damage to three of their vehicles, one with graffiti and another that was damaged after being hit by bottles.

Three incidents of sexual assaults against women were also reported on Friday evening, while one was reported on Saturday. Two young women, one aged 25 and the other 17, were sexually harrassed at the festival, according to police. (The) 17-year-old girl … three men held her and “grabbed her buttocks” outside the town’s main rail station. A 20-year-old Iraqi man was being questioned in connection with the first case, while three Afghan asylum seekers aged from 18 to 20 were detained over the second. Four men are being investigated, but police have not confirmed any arrests.

The mayor of Schorndorf, Matthias Klopfer, expressed his sympathy with the victims of the harrassment, saying such attacks were “not trivial offenses.” Police have called on anyone else who was the victim of similar attacks to come forward.