Cologne attacks: Asylum seekers face deportation over role in mass sexual assaults on New Year's Eve

Protesters after the attacks in Cologne
Reuters
Michael Howie7 January 2016

Asylum seekers could be deported if they are found to have taken part in a string of New Year sex attacks in Cologne, Germany’s justice minister said today.

Police said witnesses described the perpetrators as being of “Arab or North African origin” among a crowd of about 1,000 men who gathered around Cologne’s main train station on Thursday night.

That has been seized upon by some opponents of Germany’s welcoming stance towards those fleeing conflict.

Justice Minister Heiko Maas said in an interview with the Funke newspaper group published today that “deportations would certainly be conceivable”.

He said the law allows for people to be deported during asylum proceedings if they are sentenced to a year or more in prison, and that is possible with sexual offences.

At least 106 criminal complaints have been filed by women since the incident, Cologne police spokesman Christoph Gilles said.

“At least three quarters have a sexual component. In two cases we are investigating crimes that amount to rape,” Mr Gilles said.

Meanwhile a senior german official has said police will have to rethink their tactics following the attacks, which have provoked anger and revulsion across the country.

Ralf Jaeger, interior minister for North Rhine-Westphalia, said police had to “adjust” to the fact that groups of men had attacked women en masse.

Three suspects have been identified, he said, but no arrests had been made.

Mr Jaeger also warned that anti-immigrant groups were trying to use the attacks to stir up hatred against refugees.

“This is poisoning the climate of our society,” he said.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT