http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11570145
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.