Lawmakers were facing intense pressure to pass the new legislation, particularly in the wake of the Cologne assaults. On Thursday, a court in Cologne sentenced two men in the New Year’s Eve assaults. More than 2,000 men were allegedly involved, and 120 suspects – about half of them foreign nationals who had only recently arrived in Germany – have been identified. It was only days later that officials reported that hundreds of women were victims of assault in Cologne, Hamburg and other German cities. Authorities now think that on New Year’s Eve, more than 1,200 women were sexually assaulted in various German cities, including more than 600 in Cologne and about 400 in Hamburg.

Source: National Post July 11, 2016 13:52 UTC