500 sex attack complaints filed

NEARLY all of the men involved in Cologne’s New Year’s Eve sex attacks were migrants, Germany’s interior ministry has indicated. “Based on testimony from witnesses, the report from the Cologne police and descriptions by the federal police, it looks as if people with a migration background were almost exclusively responsible for the criminal acts,” North Rhine-Westphalia state interior minister Ralf Jaeger said yesterday. His remarks come amid a violent backlash against the migrant community in Germany after a gang of men reportedly assaulted a group of Pakistani and Syrian asylum seekers on Sunday night. The victims were injured in the attack, which took place near Cologne railway station, and had to be taken to hospital.

Germany’s interior ministry severely criticised Cologne police in a statement yesterday for making “very serious mistakes” in their handling of the New Year’s Eve attacks. Police have revealed that about 500 complaints had been filed. Justice Minister Heiko Maas said: “As abominable as the crimes in Cologne and other cities were, one thing remains clear: there is no justification for blanket agitation against foreigners . . . [some people] appear just to have been waiting for the events of Cologne.” Chancellor Angela Merkel is also under intense pressure over her response to the spate of sexual assaults in the west German city and has cancelled her visit to the Davos World Economic Forum amid growing public anger. The Pope has also waded into the row and yesterday urged European leaders not to lose “the values and principles of humanity however much they may prove, in some moments of history, a burden difficult to bear”.