German government denounces retaliatory attacks
A string of attacks on women in Cologne on New Year’s Eve blamed largely on foreigners was “intolerable,’’ Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman said Monday, but added nothing excuses retaliatory assaults on immigrants.
Merkel has proposed making it easier to deport immigrants involved in crimes, and her spokesman Steffen Seibert emphasized the government is looking into both “possible consequences for criminal law (and) possible political consequences for the intolerable crimes.’’
But after Cologne police said a group of Pakistanis and a Syrian were attacked in the city on Sunday, Seibert said Germans must not blame all the nearly 1.1 million migrants who entered the country last year, and said the government is also focused on their welfare.
“We’re doing all of these things to protect the population in Germany,’’ he said. “We are also doing this for the great majority of innocent refugees who have sought refuge from bombs and war in our country, and who should get this protection and who are prepared to adapt to the rules and values in our country.’’
The six Pakistani nationals were attacked Sunday by around 20 people, and two of them were briefly admitted to a hospital, police said. Also Sunday evening, five people attacked a Syrian man, who was injured but didn’t need treatment.
Police official Norbert Wagner said authorities are treating those attacks as anti-foreigner crimes and believe the assailants arranged to meet via social media, news agency dpa reported.
The New Year’s Eve assaults stoked tensions over Germany’s open-door policy to refugees and prompted politicians to call for tougher laws against who commit crimes.
“As abominable as the crimes in Cologne and other cities were, one thing remains clear: there is no justification for blanket agitation against foreigners,’’ Justice Minister Heiko Maas said, adding that some people “appear just to have been waiting for the events of Cologne.’’
In the eastern city of Leipzig on Monday night, supporters of the anti-Islamic PEGIDA movement demonstrated, carrying signs with slogans like “RAPEfugees not welcome’’ and “Freedom for Germany.’’
Counter-demonstrators, led by Mayor Burkhard Jung, carried a banner saying “Welcome in Leipzig’’ and placards saying “No PEGIDA.’’
Police refused to give a crowd estimate but witnesses said about 2,000 people were on hand for either side.
Authorities and witnesses said the New Year’s Eve attackers
migrants were among a group of about 1,000 people, described as predominantly Arab and North African men, who gathered at Cologne’s central train station. Some broke off into small groups and groped and robbed women, police said.
Maas has said German authorities need to quickly determine whether the assaults were co-ordinated or were linked to similar offences in other cities including Hamburg. Incidents also were reported in Sweden and Finland.
North Rhine-Westphalia state police told lawmakers Monday, however, that so far their investigation had found no indication the Cologne attacks were co-ordinated, or linked to others, dpa reported.
Cologne police say 516 criminal complaints have now been filed with them in connection to the New Year’s attacks. About 40 per cent involve allegations of sexual offences.