German police slam paper’s ‘sex mob’ story
Force says assault allegations included in the article were ‘without foundation’
On Feb. 6, Germany’s most-read newspaper reported that dozens of Arab men, presumed to be refugees, had rampaged through the city of Frankfurt on New Year’s Eve. The men were said to have sexually assaulted women as they went through the streets; the newspaper dubbed them the Fressgass “sex mob,” referring to an upmarket shopping street in the city.
Bild’s report sparked widespread concern in Germany. The nation has taken in millions of migrants over the past few years and there had been reports of similar incidents in Cologne, Germany, and other cities the previous New Year’s Eve. But police investigating the crime now say the allegations included in the article are “without foundation.”
According to the Frankfurter Rundschau, the witnesses who spoke to reporters may be investigated themselves. Bild has now deleted the story from its website. The paper’s online-editor-in-chief on Tuesday said that the company apologized “for our own work.”
There have been plenty of false stories about refugees and migrants in Germany over the past few years, in large part a reflection of divisive political views on the issue within the country and the increasingly fragmented world of online media. They include the story of the “Allahu akbar”-chanting mob that set Germany’s oldest church alight (quickly proven false), and the refugee who took a selfie with German Chancellor Angela Merkel accused of terrorism links (also false).
Most of these stories have been social media-driven, or spread by ideological websites such as Breitbart.
Bild, on the other hand, is a major newspaper founded in 1952 with a print circulation in the millions — the highest of any European newspaper. Its views on refugees have fluctuated — in 2015, Bloomberg wrote that the newspaper had surprised its critics by learning “to love refugees.”
The Local reports Bild had largely based its report on the accounts of Jan Mai, a well-known restaurateur in Frankfurt, and a 27-year-old woman named Irina. Mai told the newspaper 50 Arab men had come into his restaurant, stealing coats and assaulting women. The female witness told the newspaper that the men had grabbed her between her legs and on her breast. “Their hands were every- where,” Irina told Bild.
Frankfurt police were taken aback by the article — they had not heard of any large-scale assaults taking place in the area on New Year’s Eve — but a number of news outlets published aggregated versions of the story.
On Tuesday, police released a damning statement on the incident that suggested the reports published in Bild were without foundation.
“The interrogations of the witnesses, guests, and staff have created considerable doubts about the portrayal of events,” the statement read, adding that “a person allegedly affected by the actions was not in the city at all when the crime occurred.”