Distrust in the politicians and police’s reports of that night has been matched only by anger at the initial media reporting of the attacks. Early media reports said there were 1,000 men involved in committing criminal acts, a figure later dismissed by police chief Wolfgang Albers, who said only “a number of suspects” were believed to be involved and that smaller groups were the individuals targeting victims. A reporter behind one of those news stories who wishes to remain anonymous doesn’t believe the number was far off.

“It depends on how you define an attack,” she said. “I come from a country where these attacks are common during festivities. If someone grabbing your bum or randomly touching you is considered by police as an attack – and it should be – then there’s no reason to believe that 1,000 men doing it is an imaginary number.”…

Still, people say the use of sexual harassment to distract and rob a victim was a tactic they had not heard much of before.

“Sexual harassment coming out of groups of young men (no matter where they’re from) is not uncommon, but most of the time it comes from small groups of three to five persons,” said Frank Neubacher, a criminologist at the University of Cologne. “If the events in Cologne had involved more than 100 accused perpetuators of sexual assault, [prior] arrangements may have been made.”