I feel really bad for the people trying to flee from violence, abuse and oppression, only to find out that the same power structures are being kept alive inside the refugee camps, and with outbursts like these.
Of course not all refugees are violent, angry, misogynist men, but they are undoubtedly here, or else this wouldn't have happened. This isn't theory, this is reality. The victims of sexual abuse aren't suddenly less traumatized because "well, this was only a small minority of idiots!"
These guys are ruining it for those who genuinely need protection and have good intentions. I honestly think some people don't realize that trying to downplay the severity of what happened on NYE by saying stuff like "there's also rape at the Oktoberfest" or "rape culture was here long before this happened" is going to make things even worse.
If you want to protect refugees, think about the weakest among them - women, children, homosexuals, religious minorities. Those are stuck in the same camps as the type of guys who participated in the mass abuse on NYE, and who knows what those are going through.
If we don't nip this type of chaos in the bud and keep downplaying assaults and problems, the atmosphere against ALL refugees is going to drop further below zero. Those guys have turned around the mood in a way that was stunningly effective in how brazen it was. It all sounds like the perfect far right wet dream scenario.
I try to stay away from all social media discussions concerning this right now because it's such a mess of ideologies, intentions and agendas, but I just wanted to add this to the discussion.
In order to be tolerant, you can't tolerate intolerance. If we truly are not racist, we need to hold everyone coming to this country to the same standards as ourselves.
And trying to compare the sexism of the immigrant males with the sexism in Germany is honestly insulting to everyone involved. Abuse is horrible wherever it happens. Just because there's sexist shit happening everywhere in the world doesn't make the events on NYE any less infuriating.
I feel the need to compliment you for this, it is very emphatic and thoughtful comment.