Police in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia are facing heavy criticism after an email surfaced in which they asked refugee centers not to organize carnival visits for their residents and tell them to willingly submit to police searches.
The letter, which was sent out by NRW police in anticipation of the kickoff of Cologne’s carnival celebrations on February 23, sparked outrage among politicians after being published by the local newspaper Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger.
The letter cites security concerns in asking municipal-run refugee centers not to organize excursions to Karneval festivities for their residents this year in order to avoid “undesirable interactions” between the asylum seekers and the population. It also asked the centers to advise their residents to submit to police searches “without complaint.”
The letter was reportedly sent to 13 refugee facilities and state authorities in Cologne.
The police eventually confirmed that the letter had been sent out, but the state’s Interior Ministry has tried to distance itself from the email, saying it was “internal” and “unauthorized.”
“I won’t be telling the [refugee] families we have living here that they can’t go to the carnival parade,” Petra Jennen, an official from the central refugee center in Leverkusen, told the KSA, saying she had been “embarrassed” by the letter.
A number of German politicians have also expressed outrage over the email, accusing the NRW police of targeting…