German police make first arrest over Cologne sex assaults

[DigitalDrifter]

Bad news for Liberals.

Berlin (AFP) - Police have arrested an Algerian asylum seeker over alleged sexual offences during New Year's Eve festivities in Cologne, prosecutors said Monday, the first directly linked to a spate of sex crimes that shocked Germany.
Hundreds of women were groped and robbed in a 1,000-strong throng of mostly Arab and North African men outside the main railway station of the western city on the night.
Police have also made seven other arrests over the rampage, but these were all related to thefts and robberies.
The Algerian suspect, 26, was picked up by police Saturday at a refugee shelter, for allegedly groping a female victim and stealing her mobile phone, along with another Algerian asylum seeker, 22, arrested on theft charges, prosecutors said.
Some 883 victims have filed 766 police reports over offences ranging from groping to theft to two reported rapes in Cologne.
The rampage blamed on North African and Arab men has darkened the mood on the refugee influx in Germany, and raised questions on whether Europe's biggest economy will manage to integrate the 1.1 million asylum seekers who arrived in 2015.

German police make first arrest over Cologne sex assaults

 

[waltky]

More rape-ugees caught...

Eight in pretrial custody in Cologne New Year's Eve mass robberies, sex assaults
Tue January 19, 2016 | At least one of those in custody is accused of groping and robbery; at least two are accused of robbery alone, an official says; The Cologne attacks suspects include illegal immigrants and those who've sought asylum in Germany; After the attacks, German officials proposed a plan to make it easier to deport foreigners

Eight men are in pretrial custody in connection with a spate of New Year's Eve mass robberies and sex assaults in Cologne, attacks that spurred a vigorous debate about asylum seekers in Germany. Ulrich Bremer, the spokesman for the Cologne prosecutor's office, said that at least one of the men in custody is accused of groping and robbery, and at least two are accused of robbery alone. It's not clear what the other five are accused of doing. Nor were all eight men's immigration status officially known. But Bremer said 21 suspects originally identified by authorities consisted of some illegally in Germany and some who sought asylum. The latter group included those who've been granted asylum and others waiting for their applications to be granted, the spokesman explained.

Several European cities experienced similar mass attacks on New Year's Eve, with immigrants being blamed for groping and robbing female revelers. Six woman in Zurich, Switzerland, for instance, told authorities they were "robbed from one side, (while) being groped ... on the other side" by groups of men, police there said. Police in Helsinki, Finland, investigated two possible crimes involving "a gathering of asylum-seekers." And at least 50 incidents were reported in the northern German city of Hamburg.

Yet what happened in Cologne got the most attention internationally, with police reporting upwards of 581 criminal complaints, more than half of which included alleged sexual offenses. The idea of mass attacks on women walking through Cologne's city center was horrific enough. But what made it more jarring for some was the allegation that those responsible had been welcomed into Germany: Interior Ministry spokesman Tobias Plate said this month that the suspects included citizens of Algeria, Morocco, Iran and Syria, among other nations.

German officials last week outlined plans lowering the threshold for foreigners to be deported to include convictions for sexual or physical assaults or resisting police officers. Previously, only those sentenced to crimes punishable by a sentence of one year or more could be deported. The changes could be passed into law as early as next month. "Criminals should be punished consistently," German Justice Minister Heiko Maas told German broadcaster and CNN affiliate ARD. "That will also lead to more deportations."

Source

See also:

EU has "no more than 2 months" to get migration crisis under control - EU's Tusk
Tue Jan 19, 2016 - Europe has "no more than months" to get the migration crisis under control, or else its Schengen passport-free travel zone will collapse, the chairman of European leaders Donald Tusk told European Parliament on Tuesday.

"We have no more than two months to get things under control," Tusk said, adding Schengen would otherwise fail.

Tusk also said the EU would "fail as a political project" if the bloc could not exercise proper control of its external borders.

The European Union is facing its biggest migration challenge since the World War Two, with more than 1 million refugees and migrants entering the 28-nation last year alone.

EU has no more than 2 months to get migration crisis under control - EU's Tusk

Related:

Pressure builds on Merkel to close borders as support slides
Tue Jan 19, 2016 - A group of conservative lawmakers urged Angela Merkel to reverse her open-door refugee policy as a poll showed a slide in support for her bloc on Tuesday, raising the stakes for a German chancellor exposed by deep rifts in her right-left coalition.

With three closely watched regional elections looming in March, Merkel is facing the toughest spell of her 10-year chancellorship over her handling of the refugee crisis. Conservative allies in Bavaria, the entry point for most migrants, are regularly breaking ranks and criticism is also mounting from her Social Democrat (SPD) coalition partners. Some media have even started to speculate about Merkel's future. An INSA poll in Tuesday's top-selling Bild newspaper showed support for Merkel's conservative bloc down 2.5 percentage points at 32.5 percent, its lowest since the 2013 election. It also put the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD), which campaigns against refugees, up 1 point at 12.5 percent.

The AfD has gained from worries about migrants, exacerbated by sexual attacks on women in Cologne and other cities at New Year blamed largely on asylum seekers, and is likely to make big gains in elections in three states in March. "There's a clear trend against conservatives in Germany. Time is short to turn this sentiment round before the regional votes in March," INSA chief Hermann Binkert told Bild. Merkel's insistence that Germany will cope with the influx of 1.1 million migrants last year and more this year, has angered local authorities struggling to house people, many fleeing war zones in Syria and other Middle East countries. Pressure is mounting on her to shut the borders five months after Germany opened its doors to asylum seekers from Syria, effectively suspending EU rules.

In a letter to Merkel, 44 conservatives - many from her own Christian Democrats (CDU) as well as Bavaria's Christian Social Union (CSU) - urged Merkel to change course. "We are facing excessive demands on our country. We believe a change is urgently needed in current migration practice ... by a return to the strict use of existing law," states the letter. One of the initiators of the letter told Reuters a total of about 100 conservative lawmakers backed it. It comes after Germany's transport minister urged Merkel on Monday to prepare to close Germany's borders to stem the influx, a highly unusual move for a cabinet member. The letter is just the latest headache for Merkel. The CSU wants a cap on migrants and some members are talking about taking the government to the Constitutional Court.

"HELPLESS"

 

[PaintMyHouse]

Bad news for Liberals.

Nope.

 

[Mac1958]

They're still working on the spin.

 

[AmericanFirst1]

Bad news for Liberals.

Nope.

Yep