New York - Hundreds of anti-Islam protesters and pro-tolerance demonstrators have taken to the streets of Cologne in the wake of the tensions caused by mass sexual assaults and robberies that took place in Germany on New Year’s Eve.
On Friday, German authorities had identified 31 of the assailants in Cologne – 18 of which are reported refugees from Muslim-majority countries.
German police said Saturday that nearly 1,700 protesters from the anti-Islam PEGIDA movement and 1,300 pro-tolerance demonstrators were separated outside Cologne’s main train station, where many of the December 31 attacks occurred.
Anti-Islam protesters held signs that read "Rapefugees not welcome - Stay away!" and “Integrate barbarity?” along with images of a mosque crossed out, while pro-tolerance signs read “refugees welcome” and “kein mensch ist illegal!” (“no person is illegal”).
According to several European media, four people were taken into custody and the PEGIDA protest was shut down by the authorities with water cannons after demonstrators attacked the some of the 1,700 police by throwing firecrackers and glass bottles at them.
Earlier on Saturday, hundreds of women's rights activists gathered outside Cologne's cathedral to rally against the New Year's Eve rapes and anti-PEGIDA opponents.
"It's about making clear that we will not stop moving around freely here in Cologne, and to protest against victim bashing and the abuse of women," 50-year-old city resident Ina Wolf told AP.
According to German police, of the 31 detained suspects in Cologne, there were 18 asylum-seekers but also two German nationals and one American. However, none of the identified suspects were accused of rape.
According to AP, police also said more than 100 detectives are investigating 379 criminal complaints filed after New Year’s Eve, about 40 percent of which involve sexual assault.
"The people in the focus of the criminal investigation are primarily from North African countries," police said on Saturday.
"Most are asylum seekers or people living illegally in Germany. The investigation into if, and how widely, these people were involved in concrete criminal activity on New Year's Eve is ongoing," they added.
According to eyewitness Lieli Shabani the attacks seemed organized, as she watched from the cathedral how three men were allegedly instructing others to take action, she told U.K.’s The Guardian newspaper.
"One time a group of three or four males would come up to them, be given instructions and sent away into the crowd," Shabani was quoted as saying.
"Then another group of four or five would come up, and they'd gesticulate in various directions and send them off again," the 35-year-old woman added.
The German police have been largely blamed for their lack of control of the situation and for being understaffed during the New Year festivities.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been harshly criticized by anti-Islam and anti-immigrant groups who denounce her open-border mentality and stand against the 1.1 million refugees she admitted into the country in 2015.
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