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German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition condemned a “new dimension” of crime after scores of women reported being sexually assaulted as they passed through a group of about 1,000 men during New Year’s Eve celebrations in downtown Cologne, irishtimes.com reports.

With interior minister Thomas de Maizière saying the perpetrators were “people apparently with a migrant background,” the incident at the city’s main train station stoked Germany’s debate about how to deal with a record number of asylum seekers as news reports and video of the melee spread.

Residents should not harbour “blanket suspicion” against refugees fleeing to Germany to escape persecution, Mr de Maizière said Tuesday.

“This is obviously a new dimension in organized crime,” justice minister Heiko Maas said in a statement.

“All the perpetrators must be investigated and brought to justice. We will not accept these cowardly and abhorrent attacks.”

Cologne police have reviewed about 90 criminal complaints from women who described being robbed, sexually harassed and in one case raped as revelers poured into Germany’s fourth-largest city from the train station at the foot of its cathedral, police spokeswoman Stefanie Becker said on Tuesday.

Cologne Mayor Henriette Reker held an emergency meeting of city authorities to discuss measures to avoid a repeat.

Witnesses described the men as between 15 and 35 and “of North African appearance,” Ms Becker said.

The scale of the assaults became clear as criminal complaints were filed after January 1st and two suspects have been arrested, she said.