Merkel seeks tougher migrant laws

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been forced to change tack on her liberal stance toward refugees, after a spate of assaults during New Year's Eve celebrations blamed on asylum seekers. Turning away from her mantra of "we will manage this" over the record influx of asylum seekers that reached 1.1 million last year, Merkel has now backed changes to the law to ease the process of expulsion for those convicted of crimes. "If the law does not suffice, then the law must be changed," she said on Saturday, warning that any refugee handed a jail term - even if it was a suspended sentence - should be kicked out of the country. "Cologne has changed everything, people now are doubting," said Volker Bouffier, vice president of Merkel's CDU party. Even though no arrests have been made or formal charges laid, Cologne police said those suspected over the rampage near the city's railway station a week ago are mostly asylum seekers and illegal migrants from North Africa. Some 379 cases have already been lodged, police said, adding that about 40 percent of these related to allegations of sexual assault. The scale of the Cologne incident has stoked public anger and fear, with a poll published by Bild am Sonntag newspaper saying that 39 percent of those surveyed felt police did not provide sufficient protection, while 57 percent did. And just under half (49 percent) believed the same sort of mob violence could hit their hometown, reported the newspaper which headlined its article with the question: "Is the New Year Eve scandal the result of wrong policies?" With thousands of asylum seekers streaming into Germany every day since last year, Merkel has already come under intense pressure, even within her own conservative alliance, to reverse her open-door policy to Middle Eastern refugees. Critics have questioned Germany's ability to integrate the massive numbers of newcomers, many of whom hail from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. The attacks triggered demonstrations in Cologne on Saturday, one of which was organized by the anti-Islam PEGIDA movement. The far-right has seized on the alleged involvement of migrants in the Cologne attacks as proof that Merkel's welcoming stance to migrants is flawed. Some in that crowd threw bottles and firecrackers at officers, and riot police used water canon to disperse the protesters. While the New Year's Eve attacks happened mainly in Cologne, there were also similar assaults in other cities, including Frankfurt.