Complaints over sexual harassment at Cologne Carnival double
By Associated Press
Feb 5, 2016 10:16 AM CST
Security checks a traditional reveler in front of a pub during the start of the street carnival in Cologne, Germany, on Thursday, Feb. 4, 2016. After a string of robberies and sexual assaults on New Year's Eve in the city that police say were committed largely by foreigners, German authorities are keen...   (Associated Press)

BERLIN (AP) — Police in Cologne say they have received more than twice the usual number of criminal complaints alleging crimes of a sexual nature during the first day of this year's street carnival.

A spokeswoman for Cologne police attributes the rise to greater awareness and sensitivity following the public uproar over sexual assaults in the city on New Year's Eve.

Twenty-two allegations, ranging from insults of a sexual nature to one case of rape, were filed with police Thursday and overnight. A Belgian TV reporter was groped live on camera by an unidentified person.

Last year there were 10 such criminal complaints.

Police spokeswoman Dorothee Goebel said Friday that "the way people file criminal complaints has changed since New Year's Eve, and that's good."

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