German police arrested a 26-year-old Algerian asylum-seeker on suspicion of committing a sexual assault in Cologne on New Year’s Eve, prosecutors said Monday.
The man, who has not been identified, was arrested at a refugee center in Kerpen, just outside Cologne, at the weekend. He is accused of groping a woman and stealing her mobile phone.
The Algerian is the first person to be detained in connection with a sexual offense in Cologne. Twenty-one people have been charged with non-sexual offenses.
A spokesman for the prosecutor’s office told the Associated Press that 497 women had come forward alleging sexual assault, including three rapes.
politico.eu