Tag: sexual abuse

Call the Red Cross! It’s a New Year …[Safe zones at Brandenburg Gate]

Safe  zones to protect women on  New Year”s Eve  2017 at Brandenburg  Gate in Germany

Safe zones to protect women  on New Year’s Eve, 2017, when partying at Brandenberg Gate in Germany.

New Years Eve in Berlin

   Out of fear for a replay of what happened two years ago in the city of Cologne  — when groups of migrant men abused dozens of German women celebrating the arrival of the new year –  the city of Berlin has decided to create “safe zones”  for women at the New Year’s celebration at Brandenburg Gate.

On New Year’s Eve 2015, about 1,200 women became victims of sexual assault in several major German cities, with more than 600 women attacked in Cologne and about 400 victims in the northern German city of Hamburg.

Prosecutors established that more than 2,000 men were involved in the assaults, but only a tiny fraction — about half of them foreign nationals who at the time had only recently arrived in the country — had been identified a year later.

It took months for the full scale of the 2015 assaults to emerge, but when prosecutors released their final estimates, Germans’ attitude toward refugees changed dramatically:

To many, New Year’s Eve 2015 is the night Germany’s welcoming attitude toward newcomers ended. Leading politicians called for tougher deportation laws soon thereafter.

In Berlin on New Year’s Eve 2017, women can go to the safe zones when they are harassed or simply don’t feel safe.

The safe zones are guarded by members of the Red Cross. There will also be psychologists present to help the women deal with the abuse they might suffer.

The safe zones were created at the request of Berlin’s police department. Earlier, the October Fest in Munich experimented with these safe zones, which proved to be very useful.

In addition to creating safe zones, the police have also informed would be partygoers that they are not allowed to bring their own alcoholic drinks to the party at Brandenburg Gate, or even to carry a backpack with them. They can go to the celebrations with their wallet and smartphone, and that’s about it.

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Firenze Sage:   Why go out if you end up in a group therapy session surrounded by the Red Cross?

https://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=four+more+obama+years

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Episcopal church a haven of hope for abused Catholic priest

Former  Catholic priest Fr. Ryan, abused by his mentor and family priest Father Lott,    finds   haven of hope through an Episcopal church in Albany, New York.

Victim-survivors want most of all to be listened to, believed and to hear ‘I’m sorry’ so says Ms Buros with The Independent Reconciliation and Compensation program. These men now 50 and 60 years old  are still crying when they speak of their  abuses says Ms Burros

Twenty years a Catholic  priest,  Steven Ryan-Vutto  left the priesthood  questioning his vocation because of  long term  sexual abuse he had experienced by his mentor and family priest.

He had to speak out as ‘it is something I had to do from the deepest core of my being.’   “I truly  believe  that although it’s going to sully the name of someone a lot of people look up to, it’s truthful… the truth will set you free.’

Abused from the age of 14 by his parish priest — acts of fondling and  sodomy — Steven Ryan-Vuotto  joined the priesthood.  Known as Father Ryan for 20 years, he recently spoke out against his abuser,

Rev. Robert V. Lott   who died in 2002 at the age of 63.  In the early 1990’s Steven Ryan-Vuotto confronted Rev. Lott as part of his therapy.

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Cameron Jackson

The above is based on an  article in the New York Times, Monday, Oct. 30, 2017

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