Asylum seekers are among those suspected of involvement in violence on New Year’s Eve in Cologne, Germany, officials said on Friday, intensifying debate about the nation’s policy of welcoming of hundreds of thousands of migrants.
About 121 women are reported to have been robbed, threatened or sexually molested by gangs of men as revelers partied near the city’s twin-spired Gothic Cathedral on Thursday last week.
The assaults have shaken Germans and prompted ruling parties to promise to crack down on migrants who commit crimes.
Photo: EPA
Cologne police said they had arrested two males aged 16 and 23 with “North African roots” suspected of involvement in the assaults.
A spokeswoman gave no further details.
Separately, German Ministry of the Interior spokesman Tobias Plate told a news conference that federal police had identified 31 people suspected of playing a role in the violence.
Eighteen of them were in the process of seeking asylum in Germany, Plate said.
“As of yesterday, the federal police had determined there were 32 criminal acts on the night, with 31 suspects whose names are known,” Plate said.
“Eighteen had asylum-seeker status,” he added.
Plate said most of the 32 criminal acts were tied to theft and bodily injury.
Three were related to sexual assaults, and police had not yet identified suspects for those attacks, he said.
Of the 31 suspects, nine were Algerian, eight Moroccan, five Iranian and four Syrian. Two German citizens, an Iraqi, a Serb and a US citizen were also among those suspected of having committed crimes.
Plate did not say whether any of the 31 had been charged.
“The investigations are ongoing,” he added.
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