COLOGNE, Germany — Amid widespread shock over a string of sexual assaults in this cosmopolitan German city on New Year’s Eve, the response was divided Wednesday:
Blame the police, or chide the victims. Deport criminal foreigners, or prevent migrants from entering the country in the first place.
The reaction in Cologne reflects a broader debate as Germany struggles to reconcile law and order with its new role as a haven for those seeking a better life.
Police descriptions of the perpetrators as of “Arab or North African origin” were seized on by those calling for an end to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s open-door policy toward people fleeing violence and persecution — even as authorities warned they don’t know if any of the culprits are refugees.
Adding to the controversy were remarks by Cologne’s mayor, Henriette Reker, suggesting that women can protect themselves from strange men on the streets by keeping them “more than an arm’s length” away — words that were widely ridiculed on social media Wednesday for putting the onus on the victims.
At least 106 women have come forward to file criminal complaints of sexual assault and robbery during the New Year’s Eve festivities, authorities said, including two accounts of rape.
The attacks were seized on by opponents of Germany’s welcoming stance toward those fleeing conflict.
“This is where Merkel’s irresponsible immigration policy will lead us,” declared Thorsten Craemer of the far-right fringe party ProNRW, which staged a small rally in front of Cologne’s main train station, the site of the attacks. “There will be battles for resources, confrontations far worse than what we’ve experienced on New Year’s Eve.”
His fellow activists — fewer than 10 — were far outnumbered by counter-demonstrators shouting them down with slogans such as “East or West, down with the Nazi plague.”
