Germany: Teen rape claims bolster far-right

The Berlin police Tuesday rejected a German-Russian teenager’s claim she was kidnapped and raped by foreigners and urged calm in a social media storm involving far-right activists and Russian media.

The 13-year-old girl had gone missing in Berlin, reportedly on her way to school, on January 11.

She subsequently returned and filed a police report, with her parents telling investigators she was kidnapped by three men at the railway station of Mahlensdorf in eastern Berlin.

The girl described the men as coming from “southern countries and speaking broken German”, and said they drove her to an apartment where they raped and beat her, according to German media reports.

The report has sparked outrage and allegations of an official cover-up, likened to initial police silence over a spate of sex assaults during New Year’s festivities in Cologne that was blamed on asylum seekers and migrants. The police said on Tuesday that “investigations show there was neither a kidnapping nor a rape”. The neo-Nazi party NPD jumped on the case to bolster its attacks against refugees.

Meanwhile, German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Tuesday that closing borders will not solve Europes refugee crisis.

Separately, the aid group Doctors Without Borders said attempts by various European Union nations to deter migrants have put thousands of people in danger and created more business for smugglers.

In a report, it said border closures and tougher policing only encourage people seeking sanctuary or jobs to use other routes to get to Europe.