Police name 18 asylum-seekers in NYE violence
Print Edition
German police have identified 18 asylum-seekers among 31 suspects in connection with robberies and assaults committed in Cologne at New Year鈥檚 Eve, officials said yesterday.
They were detained by federal police on suspicion of committing crimes ranging from theft to assault, and in one case verbal abuse of a sexual nature, Interior Ministry spokesman Tobias Plate said in Berlin. They were believed to be among a group of up to 1,000 people in front of Cologne鈥檚 main railway station on the evening of December 31.
None of the 31 is currently suspected of committing sexual assaults of the kind that have prompted outrage in Germany over the past week.
Plate said the suspects were nine Algerians, eight Moroccans, five Iranians, four Syrians, two Germans and one person each from Iraq, Serbia and the United States.
Cologne police said yesterday they have received a total of 170 criminal complaints related to New Year, including 120 of a sexual nature. In addition to the 31 suspects detained by federal officers, Cologne police arrested two men from North Africa, aged 16 and 23, early yesterday.
Police said the attacks on women were committed by small groups of men who were among some 1,000 people described as being of 鈥淎rab or North African origin鈥 that had mingled with revelers in front of Cologne鈥檚 main train station and Gothic cathedral.
The incident has triggered calls for tighter immigration laws, particularly from politicians opposed to Chancellor Angela Merkel鈥檚 open-door policy that allowed nearly 1.1 million refugees to enter the country last year.
Government spokesman Georg Streiter said the chancellor wants 鈥渢he whole truth鈥 about the incidents in Cologne and that 鈥渘othing should be held back and nothing should be glossed over.鈥
鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 just harm our rule of law but also the great majority of completely innocent refugees who have sought protection鈥 in Germany, he said.
Plate said authorities were investigating possible links to similar sexual assaults in other cities to see whether there had been any coordination.
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