GERMANY offers cash reward for leads on sex attacks in Cologne
The incidents deepened public doubts about Chancellor Angela Merkel's
decision to open Germany's doors to refugees and migrants, whose numbers
reached 1.1 million last year.
German
prosecutors have offered a cash reward of 10,000 euros ($10,890) for
information that could lead to the arrest of suspects in mass sexual
assaults on women partying on New Year's Eve in the city of Cologne.
More
than 600 women in several cities across Germany filed complaints
ranging from sexual molestation to theft in attacks on the New Year's
weekend and police investigations are focused on illegal migrants from North Africa as well as asylum-seekers.
The incidents deepened public doubts about Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to open Germany's doors to refugees and migrants, whose numbers reached 1.1 million last year.
The
prosecutor's office in Cologne said on Thursday more details about the
reward for helping find suspects would be communicated by the police
this week.
German police said they had so far been
able to identify 32 people suspected of roles in the violence in
Cologne, including 22 who were planning to seek asylum in Germany.
But
identifying perpetrators has been a challenge for police, who have been
smarting from criticism that they failed to stop the attacks. The
Cologne police chief has been sacked over the matter.
The
assaults shocked Germans and prompted politicians to introduce harsher
penalties against offending asylum seekers and foreigners. ($1 = 0.9183
euros)
source: pulse