Ken Berwitz
Many Germans,including some of the victims themselves, have accused authorities of aconspiracy of silence over the assaults to stop criticism of the massimmigration policy pursued by Mrs Merkel and her politically-correctsupporters. The mainstream media in Germany has, until recently, toed theGovernment line; a top public broadcaster, ZDF, recently refused to run asegment about a rape case on its prime-time \’crime-watch\’ show because the \’dark-skinned\’ suspect was a migrant.
The programme\’s editordefended her decision, saying: \’We don\’t want to inflame the situation andspread a bad mood. The migrants don\’t deserve it.\’
Cracks only began toshow just before New Year. Bild, Germany\’s largest daily newspaper, broke ranksby accusing officials of conducting a campaign of deception on a \’massivescale\’ by burying bad news on migration. It reported that drug gangs involvedin organised crime were actively recruiting newly-arrived migrants from thevast temporary camps where they live.
The Cologne policeforce has also been accused of deliberately hushing up the New Year scandal. Itissued an official press release the following day describing the celebrationsas \’exuberant, but mostly peaceful\’. The release has since been retracted, andlast night it emerged that police chief Wolfgang Albers is to resign.
Broadcaster ZDF had toapologise for a \’cover up\’ after it failed to report the Cologne story forthree days, even though it knew about it.
The men had been in Germany for just two weeks
And until Thursday, aweek after the attacks, there had been silence from Mrs Merkel\’s ministersabout the backgrounds of the perpetrators. Initially, they insisted there wasno evidence that new migrants were involved in the violence.
A leaked police reportwhich emerged 48 hours ago showed this was far from the truth. It revealed thatone of the Cologne attackers said: \’I am Syrian. You have to treat me kindly:Mrs Merkel invited me.\’
