Germany to boost New Year’s Eve security in Cologne

BERLIN (AA) - German police have announced plans to boost security in the northern city of Cologne during New Year's Eve festivities amid concerns over thefts and sexual assaults.

Cologne’s police chief Juergen Mathies told a news conference Monday that more than 1,500 police officers will be deployed in the city center to prevent sexual assaults and robberies.

City authorities came under fierce criticism early this year for failing to prevent hundreds of thefts and sexual assaults at Cologne’s central station on New Year’s Eve.

“Something like that must not happen again. The police would do everything to ensure that people can celebrate the end of 2016 at Cologne’s streets and squares in peace and security,” he said.

Police deployment planned for the upcoming New Year's Eve celebration in Cologne would be 10 times more than the one at last year’s festivities.

Authorities have also announced plans for increasing video surveillance in the city center and assigning mobile teams to respond to emergency situations.

There had been more than 500 reports of sexual assaults and thefts at Cologne’s New Year celebrations last year, which were blamed mostly on Arab and North African migrants in the media.

The events had sparked security fears in German society about the refugee influx and far-right groups have tried exploiting the incidents to attack Chancellor Angela Merkel’s open-door policy for asylum seekers.