Cologne attacks: Merkel proposes tougher migrant laws

 

The refugee policy has come to define Mrs Merkel's leadership 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has proposed changes to make it easier to deport asylum-seekers who commit crimes, after the New Year's Eve sex attacks on women in Cologne.

The attacks, which victims say were carried out by men of North African and Arab appearance, have called into question her open-door migrant policy.
The police's handling of the events has also been sharply criticised.
Later, there were clashes at an anti-immigrant protest in Cologne.
Police used water cannon and pepper spray to disperse protesters from the the right-wing anti-immigrant Pegida movement as violence flared after a rally which heard condemnation of Mrs Merkel's policies.
Reports say bottles and firecrackers were hurled at police lines.

Saturday also saw protests by feminist groups over violence against women in the city, and a left-wing anti-Pegida counter-demonstration.
Meanwhile, police in Cologne have said the number of cases of reported violence on New Year's Eve has risen substantially.

'Consequences'

Mrs Merkel, speaking after a meeting of her Christian Democrat party leadership in Mainz, proposed tightening the law on denying the right of asylum for those who have committed crimes.
Under the new plans, those on probation could be deported too.
"When crimes are committed, and people place themselves outside the law... there must be consequences," she told reporters after the meeting.
Under current German laws, asylum seekers are only forcibly sent back if they have been sentenced to at least three years' imprisonment, and providing their lives are not at risk in their countries of origin.
The move, which will still need parliamentary approval, follows the New Year's Eve attacks, which sparked outrage in Germany.
Victims described chaos as dozens of sexual assaults and robberies were carried out with little apparent response from the authorities around Cologne station.
A statement issued by Cologne police on Saturday, quoted by AFP news agency, said the number of reported violence cases had reached 379 - 40% of which were cases of sexual assault.
"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," the statement says.