COLOGNE, Germany, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- Asylum seekers are among suspects sought or questioned for sexual harassment crimes allegedly committed at public New Year's Eve festivities in Cologne, Germany, the government said Friday.
Police handled 90 complaints by women who said groups of men, described by authorities as non-German and having "a North African or Arabic" appearance, surrounded women celebrants who were groped, and had wallets and cellphones stolen. One woman reported she was raped.
Officials checked identification of at least 100 suspects at the celebration at Cologne's train station; 71 were identified and 11 were put in custody, a report by the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag said. The German government said 31 asylum seekers, all but one from Morocco or Algeria, are being sought for crimes including theft and bodily assault. Cologne city administrators identified the suspects as Syrian asylum seekers, the newspaper said.
Comments by Cologne Mayor Henriette Reker after the event, suggesting women should keep possible assailants "at arm's length," prompted outrage on social media and suggestions her advice amounted to blaming the women for the assaults and thoughts the victims could have done more to protect themselves.
The initial internal police report of the New Year's Eve incidents did not refer to "Syrians" or "asylum seekers." The local newspaper Kolner Stadt-Anzeiger reported that mentioning refugees or their nationalities would be "politically awkward."
Welt am Sonntag also reported it received information from Cologne police that sexual assault, and not theft, was the priority of the alleged attackers, quoting an unidentified police officer as saying, "For the mostly Arabic offenders, sexual assault was the priority, or, to express it from their point of view, their sexual amusement was the priority. A group of men would encircle a female victim, close the loop, and then start groping the woman."
The issue could be problematic for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has been widely praised for urging a policy of welcome for the 1 million refugees, largely from North Africa and the Middle East, who arrived in Europe in 2015. Critics have suggested German police and the government have covered up assaults by refugees so Merkel's policies would not be tarnished.
A Merkel spokesman said Friday, "First and foremost, this is about criminality, not about refugees. Holding back and sugarcoating things will not only hurt us, it will also hurt the rule of law and the majority of completely blameless refugees who are seeking protection with us."
