Sexual assault on New Year generate fear and anger in Germany

Are crimes in a whole new dimension. "
This is how German authorities described the series of sexual assaults against dozens of women during New Year's Eve in Cologne, in the west.
A group of about a thousand men acted in a coordinated manner to harass and rob multiple victims. According to witnesses, the suspects had "Arab origin or from North Africa."
The case also generated more outrage to have occurred in the city center, around the main railway station and near the landmark Gothic cathedral in the region.
The mayor of Cologne, Henriette Reker, called an emergency meeting to address the crisis and ensure the safety of residents and visitors in a month's Carnival celebration, held annually in the city.
Aisle men
Police received at least 90 reports of women who were assaulted, harassed and sexually assaulted, including one count of rape, on the night of December 31.
The attacks were carried out by a large group of men gathered around the famous town square, between the central station and the old cathedral.
According to the police chief, Wolfgang Albers, the about a thousand men were drunk and appeared to be "Arabs and Africans". It is expected that most complaints arise in the coming days.
One victim, identified as Katja L., said the men acted in smaller groups of about five members.
They chose women and to surrounding sexually abuse them or steal their belongings. She told the German news agency DPA that, out of the station, she and her friends were forced to walk through a corridor of men.
"They spent a hand on me everywhere. It was a nightmare. We shouted and we knocked them but they did not stop," he said. "I was desperate. I think it touched me a hundred times in the 200-meter walk (among them)."
One man described how his wife and 15 year old daughter were surrounded by a crowd outside the station without that he could help them. "The attackers took up her breasts and touched between her legs."
A British visiting the city said fires were fired at his group for men who do not speak German or English.
"They tried to hug us, kiss us. One of them stole the purse from my friend. Another tried to put us in a 'private taxi." I've been in frightening and dangerous situations, but had never experienced something like this, "she told the BBC.