Angela Merkel has said she will back tougher laws on deporting immigrants as far-right protesters marched in Cologne following a string of sex attacks allegedly committed by asylum seekers.
German police used water cannon on Saturday to prevent clashes between supporters of Germany’s far-right Pegida movement and a counter-demonstration by anti-fascists.
At least 32 people are suspected of playing a role in the violence on New Year’s Eve, 22 of whom are in the process of seeking asylum. Of the 32 suspects, nine were Algerian, eight Moroccan, five Iranian and four Syrian. Three German citizens, an Iraqi, a Serb and a US citizen were also identified.
Gangs of men described by some of the alleged victims as being of north African or Arab descent are reported to have robbed, threatened or sexually assaulted 121 women as revellers partied near the city’s Gothic cathedral.
. About 1,700 supporters of Pegida, which says the assaults are proof that Merkel’s liberal migrant policy is failing, and the local far-right group Pro NRW arrived in the city’s main square at 1pm (midday GMT).
Waving German flags and signs reading “Rapefugees not welcome”, “Germany survived war, plague and cholera, but Merkel?”, they shouted “Merkel out”. About 1,300 anti-Pegida protesters held a counter-rally, chanting “Nazis out”.
Leaders of Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) held a policy meeting in the south-western city of Mainz on Saturday to consider tougher penalties for attacks against police and emergency responders and the withdrawal of refugee or asylum seeker status from anyone sentenced to a non-parole prison term.
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Under current laws, asylum seekers are only forcibly sent back if they have been sentenced to jail terms of at least three years and if their lives are not at risk in their countries of origin.
The DPA news agency reported that leaders of CDU agreed on a proposal to exclude foreigners who had been convicted of crimes from being granted asylum. They also reportedly agreed to support powers that would strengthen the ability of police to check identity papers.
Merkel said the proposal, which will be discussed with her coalition partners and would need parliamentary approval, would help Germany deport “serial offenders” convicted of lesser crimes.
“This is in the interests of the citizens of Germany, but also in the interests of the great majority of the refugees who are here,” Merkel told party members in Mainz, according to the Associated Press
“If people act outside the law … naturally there must be consequences,” she said. “Serial offenders who consistently, for example, return to theft or time and again insult women must count on the force of the law.”
She has, however, resisted domestic pressure to introduce a formal cap on migrant numbers, repeating her “We can do this” mantra.
Cologne’s police chief, Wolfgang Albers, who had been heavily criticised for his handling of the violence and police communications afterwards, was dismissed on Friday.
The city’s mayor, Henriette Reker, suggested that police had held back information from her and that her trust in the Cologne police leadership was “significantly shaken”.
A leaked police report, obtained by the German newspaper Bild, said women were forced to “run a gauntlet … beyond description” to reach or leave the station.
Cologne police said on Friday that they had arrested two males aged 16 and 23 with “north African roots” on suspicion of involvement in the assaults. The federal police documented 76 criminal acts, most them involving some form of theft, and seven linked to sexual assault.
The German interior ministry spokesman Tobias Plate did not say if any of the suspects had been charged. “The investigations are ongoing,” he said.
Amateur videos from the night show groups of young men jumping around chaotically, shooting fireworks into the crowd and pushing bystanders. A full police report on the evening is due in the coming days.
The CDU has called for tougher penalties against offending asylum seekers in response. A draft paper seen by Reuters before the party leadership’s meeting in Mainz said migrants who had been sentenced to prison or probation should be ineligible for asylum.
“Why should German taxpayers pay to imprison foreign criminals?” said the vice-chancellor, Sigmar Gabriel, who leads the Social Democrats (SPD), Merkel’s coalition partner.
The CDU paper calls for lower barriers to the deportation of criminal asylum seekers, increased video surveillance and the creation of a new criminal offence of physical assault.
The incidents in and around the square in front of Cologne’s main train station have led to accusations of a police and media cover-up to avoid anti-foreigner sentiment following Merkel’s open-door policy towards refugees and migrants. About 1.1 million refugees and migrants arrived in Germany last year, far more than in any other European country, most of them fleeing war or deprivation in the Middle East.
Evidence has emerged that similar attacks had taken place in seven other German cities. After Cologne, Hamburg appears to have been the worst affected. Of 167 complaints of attacks made to police - around two-thirds of them being described as sexual assault, including two cases of rape – 100 relate to Cologne and 53 to Hamburg.
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