Just in from SKY news
http://news.sky.com/story/1618820/cologne-suspects-include-18-asylum-seekers
More than half of the suspects identified by police investigating violence and sex assaults at Cologne's New Year celebrations are asylum seekers, Germany's interior ministry has confirmed.
Ministry spokesman Tobias Plate told a news conference federal police had identified 31 people suspected of playing a role in the violence, 18 of whom were in the process of seeking asylum in Germany.
Plate said the vast majority of the 32 criminal acts documented by federal police on the night were tied to theft and bodily injury. Three were related to sexual assaults, although police had no names tied to these acts.
He said of the 31 people questioned, nine had been Algerian, eight Moroccan, five Iranian, and four Syrian.
Two German citizens, an Iraqi, a Serb and a US citizen were also among those seen to have committed crimes during the night.
:: Cologne Attacks: Offenders Could Be Deported
Earlier in the week, interior minister Thomas de Maiziere warned that any asylum seekers who committed a serious crime "must reckon with being deported from Germany".
Meanwhile, Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for a "fundamental" debate on how to integrate the 1.1 million refugees who were registered in the country last year.
She described the assaults as "repugnant criminal acts that Germany will not accept".
She added: "The feeling women had in this case of being at people's mercy, without any protection, is intolerable for me personally as well.
"We must examine again and again whether we have already done what is necessary in terms of deportations from Germany in order to send clear signals to those who are not prepared to abide by our legal order."
:: Calls For Police Chief To Quit Over Sex Attacks
:: Cologne Mayor Under Fire Over Attacks Comment
One woman said: "Everywhere it says this has something to do with Muslims. What I read and learned in the Koran is completely different.
"I've been here for 30 years myself and I've never seen anything like this."
A German-Tunisian lawyer has described the assaults as inexcusable, but criticised the police for identifying some of the attackers as North African before making any arrests.
Mehdi Labidi said: "Germany is a tolerant country but I find this really strange that an entire ethnic group is being branded as criminals.
"If far-right extremists attack North Africans then we are going to file a criminal complaint against police for incitement."