Dec. 31 (UPI) — The Red Cross has established a special “safety area” in Germany’s capital city for women who say they have been sexually harassed or abused during New Year’s Eve festivities.
A “resting tent” will be set up south of the Brandenberg Gate in Berlin staffed by trained paramedics where women can go if they feel unsafe during the city’s New Year’s Eve event.
Red Cross spokesman Ronald Riege said the tent will provide assistance to anyone, but a small sign which will read “Women’s Safety Area,” will be placed outside the entrance.
Up to five members of a German Red Cross team will be available to offer immediate support to victims who have been assaulted or harassed.
“[Assaulted women] can stay here and calm down or speak to someone trained to offer psychological support,” Anja Marx, the spokeswoman of Berlin’s main New Year’s Eve celebrations, told the Washington Post.
A total of 140 Red Cross personnel will be deployed for the New Year’s Eve event among six first aid tents. Only one tent will be designated as the “Women’s Safety Area,” Riege said.
Rainer Wendt, chairman of the German Police Union, said the idea of a safety area sent a “disastrous message” that there are “secure and insecure zones.”
“It would be the end of equality, freedom of movement and self-determination,” Wendt said.
The decision to establish a safe area came after 1,200 women became victims of sexual assault in several major German cities during New Year’s Eve in 2015, including more than 600 in Cologne and about 400 in Hamburg.
Prosecutors determined at least 2,000 men were involved in the assaults of which about half were determined to be foreign nationals, prompting some politicians to call for stricter deportation laws.
The number of New Year’s Eve assaults decreased in 2016 after thousands of additional police officers were deployed and the use of fireworks was banned at several locations.
This year an extra 1,600 police officers are to be deployed in Berlin. A police spokeswoman said no police will be stationed at the Red Cross women’s safety area unless called on.
