German Officials Suspect 18 Asylum Seekers in New Year's Attacks

Merkel's comments made Friday were a response to the sexual assaults on women, of which some were allegedly committed by men who victims say appeared to be of Arab and North African descent, outside Cologne's main rail station on New Year's Eve.

Under Germany's current laws, asylum seekers are only sent back if the government sentences them to three-year jail terms and deems they will not be in danger if they're sent back to their countries.

Members of far-right group PEGIDA were among those who took to the streets of the German city to march against the attacks and also express outrage at an alleged cover-up by police and media organisations over the involvement of migrants.

Asylum seekers were among those involved in the violence on New Year's Eve, the German interior ministry said.

Cologne police say the number of cases filed over violence during New Year's celebrations near the city's twin-spired Gothic cathedral has risen to 379, adding that asylum seekers and illegal migrants make up the majority of suspects. According to the Federal Interior Ministry, nine of the suspects are Algerian, eight Moroccan, five Iranian, four Syrian, one Iraqi, one Serbian, one USA and two are German.

"The most important thing is that the facts about what happened [in Cologne] are spoken about openly and bluntly".

"People rightly want to know what happened on New Year's Eve, they want to know who the assailants were, and they want to know how such attacks can be prevented in the future", said Jaeger, sending the 60-year-old into "early retirement" as Germans usually treat such dismissals. None of them were accused of specifically committing sexual assaults and police said the investigation was ongoing.

"We need more police, a better equipped judiciary and tougher laws, among other things to more quickly expel criminal foreigners", said Volker Kauder, the parliamentary leader of Merkel's Christian Democrats.

Mr Albers had faced mounting criticism both for the police's handling of last week's events and of the fallout.

Those detained are suspected of crimes ranging from theft to assault, Tobias Plate said. The fourth-and fifth-biggest groups of asylum-seekers past year came from Albania and Kosovo.

Cologne police said the decision to retire Mt Albers would be formally discussed by North Rhine-Westphalia's governing Cabinet on Tuesday, but he would not be returning to his job. At least two cases of rape were also reported.

Eighty-two percent said they would like to have more video surveillance in public places, while 17 percent said they wouldn't.

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