02:18Germany: Cologne counter-demo meets PEGIDA protest against NYE assaults
Supporters of the Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West (PEGIDA) rallied outside Cologne's main train station on Saturday. A counter-protest took place simultaneously, with the two groups being kept apart by the police.
Both actions come in the wake of alleged mass sexual assaults against women in the same area during New Year's Eve celebrations. Cologne police have said the culprits are believed to be men between 18 and 30 years old with "origins in the North-African and Arabic region."
The allegations are expected to heighten tensions around the question of migration and cultural integration, after Germany accepted nearly one million refugees and migrants in 2015, mostly fleeing conflict in the Middle East.
02:18Supporters of the Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West (PEGIDA) rallied outside Cologne's main train station on Saturday. A counter-protest took place simultaneously, with the two groups being kept apart by the police.
Both actions come in the wake of alleged mass sexual assaults against women in the same area during New Year's Eve celebrations. Cologne police have said the culprits are believed to be men between 18 and 30 years old with "origins in the North-African and Arabic region."
The allegations are expected to heighten tensions around the question of migration and cultural integration, after Germany accepted nearly one million refugees and migrants in 2015, mostly fleeing conflict in the Middle East.