Merkel talks tough on migrant lawbreakers as Cologne assault cases soar

COLOGNE, Germany — German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday backed stricter laws to expel convicted refugees, as clashes erupted at far-right protests in Cologne over a rash of sexual assaults blamed on asylum seekers. Cologne police said they have now recorded 379 cases of New Year’s Eve violence — ranging from groping to theft to two reported rapes — with asylum seekers and illegal migrants making up the majority of suspects. With anger growing at the scale of the attacks, supporters of the xenophobic PEGIDA movement marched in protests that briefly turned violent in the western city. Police used tear gas and water cannon to clear the rally of far-right supporters after protesters flung firecrackers and bottles at officers they said had failed to prevent the New Year’s attacks on women. Vowing tough action, Merkel declared that any refugee handed a jail term — even if it was a suspended sentence — should be kicked out of the country. “If the law does not suffice, then the law must be changed,” she said, pledging action to protect not just German citizens, but innocent refugees too. Witnesses described terrifying scenes of hundreds of women running a gauntlet of groping hands, lewd insults and robberies in the mob violence. Of the cases reported so far, 40 percent related to sexual violence, Cologne police said in a statement. “Those in focus of criminal police investigations are mostly people from North African countries. The majority of them are asylum seekers and people who are in Germany illegally,” police added, confirming witness accounts. The allegations have stoked criticism of Merkel’s liberal open-door policy — which brought 1.1 million new asylum seekers to Germany last year. As questions grew over the country’s ability to integrate the newcomers, it emerged late Saturday that a man who was killed trying to attack a police station in Paris on Thursday had lived in an asylum seeker shelter in Germany. Revealing that they had raided the man’s apartment, German police did not specify if he was an asylum seeker, but a source close to the matter said that the man was indeed registered as one. In Tunisia, a woman who claimed to be the man’s mother confirmed that he had been living in Germany but denied he had any links to extremist groups. In Cologne, hundreds of PEGIDA supporters waved German flags and signs saying “Rapefugees not welcome,” as they shouted “Merkel raus” (Merkel out). The rattle of a helicopter circling in the skies and the occasional bang of a firecracker added to tensions as counter-protesters, separated from the PEGIDA crowd by police, chanted “Nazis raus.” — AFP