Cologne attacks: New Year's Eve crime cases top 500
3 hours ago
The number of criminal cases committed during new year celebrations in the German city of Cologne has risen to 516 - 40% of which relate to sexual assault, police in the city say.
The figures are a big increase from the 379 cases police reported on Saturday.
Asylum seekers and illegal migrants from North Africa comprise the majority of suspects, police say.
The crime spree led to criticism of Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door immigration policy.
That has resulted in 1.1 million asylum seekers going to Germany throughout 2015.
The new figures came as German authorities were urged to find out whether the series of New Year's Eve sexual assaults and robberies in Cologne were linked to similar crimes in other cities.
Justice Minister Heiko Maas told the Bild newspaper on Sunday that he was convinced the attacks were pre-arranged.
"If such a horde gathers in order to commit crimes, that appears in some form to be planned,'' he said. "Nobody can tell me that this was not co-ordinated or prepared."
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Authorities and witnesses say the attackers were among about 1,000 people, mostly men, who congregated at Cologne's central train station before breaking off into small groups that molested and robbed women.
Police investigating the attacks say they are concentrating their inquiries mainly on suspects of North African origin.
Riot police on Saturday used water cannon to disperse anti-migrant protesters as Mrs Merkel proposed changes to make it easier to deport asylum-seekers who commit crimes.
The police's handling of the events has been sharply criticised.
Victims described chaos as dozens of sexual assaults and robberies were carried out with little apparent response from the authorities around Cologne station.
Similar attacks to those seen in Cologne were also reported in Hamburg and in Stuttgart on New Year's Eve. In Bielefeld, hundreds of men tried to force their way into nightclubs, Die Welt reported (in German).
Police said several women had alleged sexual assault.
On Friday, the chief of police for North Rhine-Westphalia was suspended. Wolfgang Albers had been accused of holding back information about the Cologne attacks, in particular about the origin of the suspects.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35277249
