For more than two months, homeless people in Cologne have been showered with paint over and over again – often while they are asleep. The police have now set up an investigation team.

Cindy sits under the archway in front of the pilgrimage church of St. Maria in downtown Cologne. There is still white paint stuck to the arch in front of the entrance gate. Twice at night the young woman was showered with paint by a passing cyclist. Both acts followed a short distance apart in October.

Cindy is not the only one affected. Since the beginning of September, several Cologne homeless people have been showered with paint, most of them were surprised in their sleep. The paint destroys the belongings and sleeping bags of people dying to carry all their possessions with them. The police assume that there have been at least ten attacks recently, which are being investigated for dangerous bodily harm against unknown persons.

Most of the known incidents occurred in the inner city on the left bank of the Rhine. The last time it was hit last week, but also two 29- and 32-year-old homeless people who had stayed at a staircase to an underground station in the Mülheim district – on the other side of the Rhine. There a stranger had showered the two men’s sleeping bags and personal belongings with paint. The two homeless people noticed the man around five o’clock, after which he fled.

Not all attacks on the homeless are reported

Probably not all attacks are reported: “Several homeless people do not provide any information or do not want to report the attacks because they are afraid of the attacker,” says Dennis Bucek, founder of “Straßenwächter eV”. The association takes care of homeless Cologne residents and provides them with food and clothing.

But not only dying fear of the perpetrator, also dying fear of authorities and the police ensure that the number of unreported cases of color attacks could be higher. Bucek emphasizes that the police do not leave the color attacks unprocessed: “I have the feeling that the police are following the matter with seriousness”. The police have set up the “Color Investigation Group”, which looks after the reports received and the search for the perpetrator.

However, in order to protect those affected, new investigative knowledge should not be made public. When asked about new information about the perpetrator, the police refer to the current information. Soon it will be handed over to the public prosecutor’s office.

Cologne: Color attacks are only a small part of all attacks on the homeless

The color attacks are an unusual crime, but only make up a small part of all attacks on homeless people in Cologne: “In 2020, 186 crimes in which homeless people are registered as victims were recorded,” says police chief inspector Annemarie Schott. This year, around 120 crimes were recorded from January to September. The homeless are mainly victims of assault crimes.

The reasons for the attacks on the homeless are difficult to pin down. The BAG Homeless Aid Association differentiates between “internal milieu” violence and external violence. Internal milieu violence IS directed by homeless perpetrators against other homeless people – it is often about resources such as money. The perpetrators from outside mostly acted on the basis of prejudice, rejection and hatred of the poor. The perpetrators often come from the right-wing extremist spectrum.

Nothing will change for Cindy for now. The homeless person does not want to give up her place in front of the church. “I’ve actually already forgotten about the color attacks,” says the young woman. The church has replaced her destroyed clothes, sleeping bag and sleeping mat. When asked whether she is afraid that the perpetrator will come again at night and throw paint at her, she replies with resignation: “Let him come.”