COLOGNE, GERMANY — The mayor of Cologne has found herself in hot water after suggesting a code of conduct for women in response to the wave of more than 100 alleged sexual assaults and muggings during New Year's Eve festivities in the German city.
Cologne police received a flood of criminal complaints from women who said they had been sexually assaulted and robbed by gangs of men who appeared to be of Arab or North African origin.
The assaults, which took place near Cologne's central train station, included more than 90 complaints of robbery and sexual assault, including two accounts of rape, by groups of men who targeted young women.
In a press conference during which she made her first public comments about the sex attacks, Mayor Henriette Reker suggested that women could protect themselves from men on the streets by maintaining "an arm's length" distance from them. Reker also advised women to "stick together in groups."
Speaking on German public service broadcaster ZDF's Heute Journal on Tuesday, Reker said, "Women would also be smart not to go and embrace everyone that you meet and who seems to be nice. Such offers could be misunderstood, and that is something every woman and every girl should protect herself from."
The hashtag #einearmlaenge ("an arm's length") then sprang up on social media to mock the mayor's suggestions.
German Justice Minister Heiko Maas slammed the mayor's comments, tweeting, "I don't think much of the how-to-behave tips for women such as #anarms'slength. It is not women who are responsible, but the perpetrators."
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