At least 21 asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa are suspects in the New Year's Eve rampage of sexual assaults and thefts in the German city of Cologne, authorities said, as word emerged of similar acts in Finland and Sweden as well as other German cities - including the alleged gang rape of two teenage girls by four Syrian men.
Already, several European nations including France, Sweden and Denmark have moved to significantly tighten border controls, aiming to root out terror suspects and staunch the flow of new arrivals.
"The extent of the contempt and assaults by Arab men, who see women as fair game because they do not dress according to the expectations of their cultural group, is hair-raising," Julia Klöckner, deputy chairwoman of Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, told the Rheinische Post newspaper Friday.