Gangs target refugees in revenge attacks
BERLIN: Two Pakistanis and a Syrian man were injured in attacks by gangs of people in Cologne, the German city where the vast majority of dozens of New Year’s Eve assaults on women took place.
Local newspaper Express reported that the attackers were members of rocker and hooligan gangs who via Facebook arranged to meet in Cologne to start a “manhunt” of foreigners in retaliation against the New Year’s Eve attacks.
The assaults on women in Cologne and other German cities have prompted more than 600 criminal complaints, with the police investigation focusing on asylum-seekers and migrants.
The assaults, ranging from theft to sexual molestation, have prompted a highly charged debate in Germany about Chancellor Angela Merkel’s open-door policy on refugees and migrants, more than a million of whom entered the country last year.
Cologne police said a group of about 20 people attacked six Pakistanis on Sunday evening, injuring two of them. In another incident a few minutes later, a group of five people attacked and injured a Syrian man.
Yesterday, a regional parliamentary commission questioned police and others about the events on New Year’s Eve.
The anti-Islam political movement Pegida, whose supporters threw bottles and firecrackers at a march in Cologne on Saturday before being dispersed by riot police, planned to hold a rally in Leipzig last night.
The attacks on women in Cologne have also sparked a debate about tougher rules for migrants who break the law, faster deportation procedures, and increased security measures such as more video surveillance in public areas and more police.
The fact that people of foreign descent were behind much of the violence in Cologne should not be kept quiet but neither should it lead people to general suspicion towards all refugees and migrants, said Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere.
He described the violence as “completely unacceptable” and said it was urgent that new tougher legislation be agreed to punish the perpetrators, saying Germany could not afford long, divisive debates about changes to the law.
In an annual address to diplomats at the Vatican City yesterday, Pope Francis warned that the recent influx of migrants risked overwhelming European values and traditions, but said he was confident the continent could successfully integrate the newcomers.
“Europe, aided by its great cultural and religious heritage, has the means to defend the centrality of the human person and to find the right balance between its twofold moral responsibility to protect the rights of its citizens and to ensure assistance and acceptance to migrants,” he said.