I go through the Wiesbaden 'police blotter' almost daily. Back twenty to thirty years ago.....you felt kinda safe....today? Less so. I noticed two episodes this week.
Early in the week, around the old mid-town bus-stop (today, Deutsche Einheit)...we had to Afghan gentlemen (16 and 18) who got into discussion after midnight. No one says the type of discussion or why it got violent (maybe alcohol or drugs?). But the 18 year old kid ended stabbing the 16 year old kid.
It wasn't exceptional knife wounds, but enough that the kid needed an ambulance. Cops spent two or three days looking for the 2nd kid, and detained him yesterday (Friday).
What the local news says....is that this suspect has been an ongoing issue, and the intensity of his 'acts'....continue to rise. He's still considered a juvenile....so the law to be used will be in that lesser court.
For the stabbing? I'm going to take guess that he gets six to twelve months in jail. Course, maybe the authorities will surprise everyone and find a way to release him back into the community.
The second episode? It occurred last night (Friday), and two young German ladies were around the walkplatz area around midnight. Note, I often emphasize hanging out after midnight in Wiesbaden is a bad choice. Somewhere along here, they bump into a group of five guys (all described in their early to late 20s). All were described as 'dark skinned' which tends to mean they were Middle-Eastern.
What developed was insults (going both ways), and the guys sexually harassing the women. The women ended up calling the cops but the five guys just walked away.
All the local news can add is that the cops were looking for witnesses.
I brought police activity to a guy who was in the Wiesbaden area in the late 1960s several years ago....stationed here for two years. Generally, the worst thing that occurred each weekend was drunk American GI's, and how the German cops would call the MPs or SPs to pick them up.
I won't say that a true no-go area exists in town (I do recommend to stay away from the east end of the Train-Station to the old butcher-yard area, after dark). Course, I might also suggest to just avoid hanging out in mid-town after midnight as well.
1 comment:
I lived in Wiesbaden from 91-96. Not long enough. I lived at Frankfurter 21A, across from the hospital and just up from the old American Arms. My wife and I would often walk down to the city center for dinner. Ratskeller and Robin Hood where our two favorite stops though we would try other places as well. We always felt safe(ish) walking around though never stayed out THAT late. Most places where closed except for clubs which we did not really go to. Sad to think that friendly and at home feeling may be gone now.
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