MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On the opening night of the carnival police reported 22 sexual abuse assaults.
The German WDR radio station reported, citing Chief of Cologne Police Juergen Mathias, that law enforcement officials had arrested 99 people and detained 432 people.
The radio station added that some 50 sexual abuse cases had been reviewed in courts following the 2015 carnival.
The Rosenmontag carnival is a large public event in Germany, especially in the cities of Cologne, Bonn and Dusseldorf. The celebrations involve costumes, dancing, drinking and public displays.
The carnival comes after hundreds of criminal complaints have been filed by women in Cologne and other cities across Germany accusing groups of mainly Middle Eastern and North African men of robbing, threatening or sexually assaulting them on New Year’s Eve.
