In other words, faced with the choice of protecting over a thousand girls from repeated gang rape and protecting Muslims from being identified as the rapists, British authorities chose to protect multiculturalism and “diversity.” In the competition between multiculturalism and one of the most elementary instincts and obligations of higher civilization — the protection of girls and women from sexual violence — higher civilization lost.

The U.K. is, of course, not alone in letting multiculturalism and the fear of being branded racist or Islamophobic take precedence over protecting girls and women. Some German authorities’ reaction to the events of New Year’s Eve in Cologne exemplified this same tendency.