Tensions in Germany have gotten exponentially worse since the disturbing wave of possibly coordinated violent assaults on women in Cologne on New Year’s Eve. Eighteen of the 31 people identified as suspects in the attacks, which included hundreds of sexual assaults and robberies, were asylum-seekers.
On Saturday, police clashed with around 1,700 protesters at a rally in the city organized by the anti-Islam group PEGIDA. Gangs have also attacked Muslims in apparently racially motivated incidents in Cologne and Leipzig. The government, meanwhile, has responded to the sexual assaults with new rules to make the deportation of foreign criminals easier.
