Germany: 1st suspect held over Cologne sex assaults

The English-language website The Local noted that the fate of North African migrants gained wide attention following numerous group sexual assaults reported on New Year’s Eve in the German city of Cologne that were described as being perpetrated by “men of North African appearance”.

The 26-years-old man, who was not named, is an Algerian asylum seeker and was found in a refugee shelter in the town of Kerpan over the weekend, security forces said.

The arrest comes in the wake of an investigation into a string of sexual assaults that triggered a debate about integration in Germany.

The main suspect was in possession of a mobile phone “stolen during a sexual assault”, according to the same source quoted by the French newspaper Le Point.

On Monday, two leading CDU figures – Volker Kauder and Julia Kloeckner- hit out at 40 colleagues who signed a letter warning that refugee numbers could put “excessive demands” on Germany, and calling for the strict enforcement of immigration laws.

It is three weeks since the Cologne attacks occurred. This is the first time an individual has been arrested in connection with a sexual assault that occurred that night.

More than 800 people have reported being threatened, robbed or sexually assaulted during the celebrations in Cologne.

Some of the victims have jointly filed a single complaint, so that the number of alleged crimes stands at 766, of which 381 are sexual offences, including three rapes. The report also mentions group harassment during Egypt’s 2011 revolution. Some 1.1 million asylum seekers arrived in the country in 2015, most fleeing war and poverty in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Berlin now plans to add Algeria and Morocco to a list of so-called “safe countries” from where migrants are unlikely to be granted asylum. It will also render deportations easy for the government.

Sigmar Gabriel, leader of the centre-left Social Democratic Party has now warned North Africa to take back rejected asylum seekers or they will lose their foreign aid.