Insults, threats, knife attacks: In Germany, female railway employees are increasingly exposed to harassment by migrants on local trains.
Harassment and threats by migrants on German trains are becoming more common, especially against female railway employees. The situation became life-threatening, as the experiences of those working on trains in Thuringia show. It often happens that groups of migrants behave aggressively, spitting and insulting railway employees.
Speaking to the German newspaper Focus.de, Steffi Recknagel, who heads the Thuringia office of the railway and transport union (EVG), reported cases where migrants threatened one of their employees with a knife, but
it has also happened that they showed their genitals to the female ticket inspectors with their pants down, who are so afraid that they don't even dare to check whether the migrants have a valid ticket.
The bullies are mostly young, illegal migrants who travel in groups. During incidents, many passengers prefer to turn away when migrants abuse others, so as not to become a target themselves.
After the incidents, although the police arrest the perpetrators in many cases, they only hold them temporarily, so the perpetrators can sit on the trains again after a few days.
The problem is more serious in areas where there is a large presence of migrants, for example in the town of Suhl, where a migrant hostel also operates.
The union and the railway companies named the leading federal and provincial politicians as the cause of the problem and called on them in a letter to immediately eliminate or remedy these scandalous conditions. According to them, politicians have a duty to act in this matter, since: "Who, if not you, created these conditions?" - they wrote in their letter to the Prime Minister of Thuringia, Bodo Ramelow.
Cover photo: A man is pulled over by the police at the main train station in Cologne Source: MTI/EPA/Sascha Steinbach
