Overview
- Henriette Reker now calls her post‑attack guidance to women to keep an arm’s length distance a mistake, saying those targeted that night had no such option.
- She characterizes the mass robberies and sexual assaults as largely carried out by young refugees and migrants from Arab and North African countries, and case records note 1,210 complaints including 511 alleging sexual offenses.
- Reker says the episode marked a turning point in debates over Germany’s refugee admission policies, yet she maintains the broader welcome culture did not fundamentally change.
- She recounts scarce communication from Cologne police chief Wolfgang Albers and unreachable state leaders, and says then‑Hamburg mayor Olaf Scholz phoned to offer advice on what she could expect from police.
- For the upcoming celebrations, North Rhine-Westphalia intends to field 7,600 police officers, an increase on last year’s deployment.