Ken Berwitz
It took days for police to acknowledge the extent of themass attacks on women celebrating New Year’s Eve in Cologne. The Germans werelucky; in Sweden, similar attacks have been taking place for more than a yearand the authorities are still playing catch up
The answer can be discovered in the reaction to the Cologneattacks. Sweden prides itself on its sexual equality and has even pioneered afeminist foreign policy. When hundreds of women were reported to have beenmolested and abused in Cologne – at the hands of an organised mob – thereaction from Swedish politicians and pundits ought to have been one ofoutrage.
Instead, we weretold that the events in Cologne were not unusual.
Then last week Sweden\’s own stories began to emerge. Duringthe We Are Sthlm music festival, large groups of young men harassed girlssexually. It began in 2014 and it also went on during last year\’s festival.According to internal police reports the groups were \’so-called refugee youthsprimarily from Afghanistan\’. The youngest of the victims was 12 years old.
The police claimedthat there were \’relatively few crimes and arrests considering the number ofparticipants\’. Internal reports told a different story
When a countrycannot hold honest debates, there are consequences.
In the Arab world, it\’s something of a phenomenon. It has aname: \’Taharrush gamea\’. Sometimes the girls are teased and have their veilstorn off by gangs of young men; sometimes it escalates into rape…Taharrushgamea is a modern evil, and it\’s being imported into Europe. Our authoritiesought to be aware of it.
But they can\’t bemade aware, when any mention of the issue is discouraged. This leaves thepolice unprepared, and leaves the public feeling not just vulnerable butdeceived. It doesn\’t take a conspiracy theorist to wonder how many moreinstances there have been where Swedish police have taken politicalconsiderations into account before disclosing information.
