Cologne Attacks: New Year's Eve Crime Cases Top 500

Cologne Attacks: New Year's Eve Crime Cases Top 500

By Jeremy Reynalds, Senior Correspondent, ASSIST News Service (jeremyreynalds@gmail.com )

COLOGNE, GERMANY (ANS-Jan 11, 2016) -- The number of criminal cases committed during new year celebrations in the German city of Cologne has risen to 516 - 40 percent of which relate to sexual assault, police in the city say.

According to a story by the BBC, 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.

The BBC said 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 coordinated or prepared.”

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.

The BBC said riot police on Saturday used water cannons to disperse anti-migrant protesters as Merkel proposed changes to make it easier to deport asylum-seekers who commit crimes.

The police's handling of the events has been sharply criticized.

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, the BBC said Die Welt reported.

Police said several women had alleged sexual assault.

On Friday, the chief of police for North Rhine-Westphalia was suspended. The BBC said Wolfgang Albers had been accused of holding back information about the Cologne attacks, in particular about the origin of the suspects.

Photo captions: 1) Scene of the horrifying sexual assaults and attacks made against ordinary Germans allegedly by large gangs of migrants in Cologne in the early hours of Friday morning. 2) Protesters in Germany (Breitbart London/Rachel Megawhat). 3) Jeremy and Elma Reynalds.

About the writer: Jeremy Reynalds is Senior Correspondent for the ASSIST News Service, a freelance writer and also the founder and CEO of Joy Junction, New Mexico's largest emergency homeless shelter, www.joyjunction.org. He has a master's degree in communication from the University of New Mexico, and a Ph.D. in intercultural education from Biola University in Los Angeles. His newest book is "From Destitute to Ph.D." Additional details on "From Destitute to Ph.D." are available at www.myhomelessjourney.com. Reynalds lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico with his wife, Elma. For more information contact: Jeremy Reynalds at jeremyreynalds@gmail.com .

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