German authorities arrested a 23-year-old Syrian migrant after he was accused of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl at a swimming pool.
Tthere were reportedly three different sexual assault incidents involving eight men, per Remix. The ages of the women and girls who were assaulted range from 12 to 18.
On May 28, an unnamed Syrian migrant, along with a 22-year-old man, reportedly touched a 12-year-old’s private parts. The two men were arrested.
The report noted that the prosecutor’s office identified one of the men as a Syrian migrant, who has been charged in the incident. The man's immigration status is unknown.
A second incident occurred on May 28, in which two 18-year-old women were swimming in an outdoor pool when two men swam past them. A 13-year-old and an unknown suspect grabbed the women’s buttock’s under the water as they swam past. Authorities immediately arrested the teen and gave him over to his mother without charges.
A final incident occurred the following day, when four men between the ages of 20 and 30 sexually assaulted four girls, aged 13, 14, and 15. Police arrested a 29-year-old in the incident, a judge released him.
There has been a reported increase in sexual violence in the area, with German broadcasting network SWR saying: “In the last two years, cases of sexual harassment at the (pool) in Unterturkheim had increased from the start of the season in May. A clerk was then entrusted with the cases at the Stuttgart police station. In addition, it was checked whether special police measures can be taken in consultation with the bathing establishments.”
Remix added that “migrants committing sexual violence and assaults inside pool establishments have plagued the country in recent years.”
In 2019, Pew Research published their findings on the prevalence of illegal immigration in Germany, stating that “an estimated 1.0 million to 1.2 million unauthorized immigrants lived in Germany in 2017, up from 500,000 to 600,000 in 2014,” adding that “Germany’s unauthorized immigrant estimate accounts for roughly a quarter of the estimated 3.9 million to 4.8 million unauthorized immigrants living in the 32 European Union and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries at the end of 2017.”
