Cologne sex attack victims speak out

One of the victims of a mass sexual attack in the German city of Cologne has described the terrifying moment a mob of more than 30 angry men surrounded her and her friends and groped and robbed them during New Year’s Eve celebrations.

Another woman recounted how her underpants were torn from her body during the apparently coordinated attacks outside the main train station in Germany’s fourth-largest city around midnight.

Cologne police say they have now received more than 90 complaints of robbery and sexual assault, including two accounts of rape, at the hands of hundreds of men who targeted the young women in the crush of revellers. City police chief Wolfgang Albers described the perpetrators as being of Arab or North African appearance, and called it ‘‘a completely new dimension of crime’’.

The attack has shocked Germany and ignited debate about the country’s refugee policy.

One of the victims, Michelle, 18, told German news channel NTV that she was with a group of 10 friends who arrived at the train station about 11pm and noticed as many as 1000 people, almost all foreign men, gathered outside in an area adjacent to the city cathedral.

Michelle said that as she and her friends walked towards the River Rhine to watch the fireworks, there were ‘‘suddenly 20 to 30 men who surrounded us, and more and more came’’.

She said the men began to molest them, touching them on their legs, backs, torsos and buttocks, and attempted to reach under their clothes. ‘‘The good thing was that we were dressed in thick clothing.’’

The group of friends protested, but the men didn’t appear to understand German, Michelle said. ‘‘They were all foreigners.’’

Michelle said some of her friends were screaming during the assault, which she estimated lasted for five minutes. The friends eventually formed their hands in a chain and broke free, with several of them crying.

It was only after they escaped that they realised they had also been robbed of their mobile phones, wallets, headphones and cigarettes.

‘‘It was disgusting funny,’’ Michelle said.

Another woman, Anne, 25, told German newspaper Bild that she was waiting tables at a nightclub and went outside during her break when she was attacked by a group of ‘‘Arab’’ men, who pulled up her dress and tore her underpants off before running away.

Another unnamed woman, aged 20, had every item of clothing torn from her body, Bild reported.

German police have identified three suspects in connection with attacks, but no arrests have been made.

Police in Hamburg are now reporting similar incidents on New Year’s Eve in the party area of St Pauli. Police said they had received 53 complaints, and the victims had also described the attackers as being dark-skinned or appearing Arabic.

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