There are now fears the upcoming carnival will be scene of similar assaults

Police fear the violence in Cologne may be linked to a known criminal gang who use sexual assault as a means of distraction, as more than 100 women have so far reported being assaulted.

Two more victims have spoken out today on German TV, after they were sexually assaulted and attacked with fireworks during the city's New Year's Eve celebrations.

One woman, known only as Jenny, suffered serious burns when a firework was shoved into the hood she was wearing.

'I heard a sizzling sound in my hood,' said Jenny. 'I somehow tried to get the firecracker out of the hood. Then it fell into my jacket and burned everything.'

She added: 'The scars will be permanent. I was lucky that it didn’t explode.'

Scroll down for video

'Scarred for life': A victim of the Cologne New Year's Eve attacks, known only as Jenny (pictured), was left with horrific burns on her shoulder after a firework was shoved into the hoodie she was wearing

Horrific: Jenny shows photographs of the serious burns that she suffered on her shoulder, after a firecracker was pushed inside her hood during the New Year's Eve attacks in Cologne

Police say the wave of attacks were perpetrated by groups of 'Arab or North African' men in the city centre, in what they described as a 'new dimension in crime'.

Another distressed victim, who did not want to be identified, told Euronews: ‘We were fondled, I was groped between my legs. My friends were also fondled. My boyfriend tried to pull me away. There was quite a big group of people, maybe thirty or forty,'

But Cologne's mayor Henriette Reker has insisted that there is no evidence the men involved in the attacks were refugees.

'There are no indications that there are people involved here who have received accommodation here in Cologne as refugees,' she told a press conference.

Police in Dusseldorf, which is 25 miles away from Cologne, are concerned the attacks are linked to a criminal gang comprising of 2,000 North African men, who sexually assault women as a distraction before stealing their possessions.

One of the first victim's to speak out, an 18-year-old named Michelle (pictured, in the square outside the main train station where she was attacked), described being surrounded by a group of 30 'angry' men who groped her and her friends then stole their belongings as they fled

Michelle's (pictured on German TV) shocking testimony comes as the city's own council today admitted its town centre was now a 'no-go area' for women

Another distressed victim (right), who did not want to be named, told German TV how she was 'groped between the legs' after a gang of around 40 men surrounded her and her boyfriend during the harrowing attacks

Police said a wave of attacks - which has so far seen 100 women report being assaulted - were perpetrated by groups of 'Arab or North African' men (pictured, left and right-wing protesters facing off in Cologne)

Supporters of Pro NRW, a right-wing group that campaigned against the construction of new mosques in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, protest following the New Year's Eve sex attacks in Cologne

One of the first victim's to speak out, an 18-year-old named only as Michelle, described being surrounded by a group of 30 'angry' men who groped her and her friends then stole their belongings as they fled.

Witnesses and police have described men working in 'coordinated' groups to grope women who were unable to escape, while two women reported they were raped.

Michelle's shocking testimony comes as the city's own council today admitted its town centre was now a 'no-go area' for women, while it has emerged similar attacks occurred the same night across Hamburg and Stuttgart.

And while German media and authorities stand accused of covering up previous incidents to avoid stoking tensions, there are fears the upcoming carnival celebrations in Cologne will see a repeat of the brazen attacks.

Both Cologne's police chief and Germany's public broadcaster yesterday apologised after they were accused of attempting to cover up the extraordinary attacks.

On New Year's Day police said the celebrations had passed off peacefully with a 'jolly atmosphere'. But then dozens of women said they had been robbed and sexually assaulted during the night.

The victims' testimonies come as protesters angered by authorities' alleged inaction held demonstrations last night.

Hundreds of people gather in front of Cologne's main railway station, where disorder broke out last week and groups of 'Arab or North African' men attacked dozens of women

Groups of revellers gather in the city centre during the celebrations last week which quickly turned to chaos

A police van makes its way through the throngs of people who gathered to see in the new year in Cologne last week

A group of men set off fireworks during the New Year's Eve celebrations in Cologne last week. Police say groups of men (not pictured) were responsible for coordinated attacks on women

Although there were some disruptions caused by fireworks (pictured) and general disorder, it was only several days later the true scale of the sex attacks at the public celebrations were revealed

Michelle told N-TV: 'There were 11 of us together at the time.

'At around 11pm we were at the main train station and wanted to travel on to see the fireworks, and that was when we first noticed all these men standing around.

'We managed to go into the cathedral and wanted to go past the Museum Ludwig to join everyone and watch the fireworks by the river, but suddenly we were surrounded by a group of between 20 and 30 men.'

Sensing danger, she and her friends then grabbed each other and started holding hands.

'They were full of anger, and we had to make sure that none of us were pulled away by them. They were groping us and we were trying to get away as quickly as possible.'

As they fled and were groped, the men also took the opportunity to rob objects from their pockets, stealing mobile telephones as the teenage girls fled.

Later as they attempted to go home, they noticed how more men were shooting rockets and other fireworks at each other near the train station.

'It was around 12:30 and we went back to the train station to catch a train that was supposed to go at 1am. But there were so many people around it was really difficult to get to the platform.'

She said it was impossible for them to stay together and that her group got separated.

Police working near the main railway station in Cologne arrest a man during the riotous party in the city centre

A couple sit on a step while two police officers check an abandoned bag left in the city centre of Cologne

Although police across Europe were on high alert for possible terror attacks on New Year's Eve, Cologne police chiefs have also come under fire for not preventing the sex attacks

'It was only when I got to the platform that I realised my train was not travelling, as I had to go back through the mass of men and walked the 5 kilometres [3miles] home by foot.'

While police have not yet made any arrests in relation to the sex attacks, they claim to have identified three suspects.

Wolfgang Albers, the head of the city's police, refused to step down despite criticism for failing to arrest a single person over the attacks. Asked why police had claimed the celebrations had passed off peacefully, he said: 'That was wrong. For this we apologise.'

Public TV station ZDF also apologised for being slow to cover the attacks, which were initially only reported in local medi.

Ralf Jaeger, Interior Minister of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) declined to give further details of the investigation but said he expected 'a very detailed report' this week from the police.

It comes as Cologne city councillor Judith Wolter wrote a letter urging people to avoid the city centre after declaring it unsafe 'for women' in the wake of the attacks.

Mrs Wolter, a council group leader and opposition councillor, also warned the upcoming carnival should be considered equally dangerous.

She wrote: 'The area in and around the central station, the cathedral and the adjoining area towards the banks of the Rhine can be for tourists [and locals] no longer considered - even in normal times - as safe.'

Left-wing protesters gather before the city's famous Gothic cathedral today with a sign that reads: 'No to racism, no to sexism'

Police officers secure the front line separating the left-wing protesters from the right wing demonstrators - who hold a banner reading: 'There is no fundamental right to asylum abuse'

Police officers watch over the public square where the sex attacks and robberies occurred on Thursday night

Describing months of petty crime in the area, including drug dealing, robberies and thefts, she warned it should now be classed a 'no-go area'.

'Especially for women, it must be assumed that there is a high security risk here in the evening and night.'

She said the upcoming carnival should be considered a 'similar situation' in which police are unable to guarantee revellers' safety.

The incident has brought tensions - caused by Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to open her country waves of migrants - to the front of the national debate.

The country took in around one million asylum seekers in 2015, many of them fleeing war-ravaged Syria.

Alarmingly, a spokesman for police in the nearby city of Dusseldorf said officers there have identified more than 2,000 suspects of North African origin in connection with organized theft offences since the start of 2014.

Some of the offences also involved sexual assaults as a means of distracting victims, and Dusseldorf police were cooperating closely with their counterparts in Cologne to examine possible ties to crimes there, spokesman Markus Niesczeri told The Associated Press.

Protesters in Cologne city centre last night wave a placard reading: 'Against sexism, against racism'

Women hold up signs that read: 'Mrs Merkel - where are you? What are you saying? This worries us!'

A group of women unfurl a large banner reading 'fight sexism' during the protest in Cologne last night

Up to 300 people took part in the demonstration, triggered by a wave of sex attacks in the city centre during last week's New Year's Eve celebrations

Police officers stand guard at a train station in Cologne as protesters make their way to the demonstration

German police have now admitted that at least two other major cities saw similar incidents.

Bild reported both Hamburg and Stuttgart saw similar attacks - with 118 women across the three cities having now come forward claiming to be victims.

In Hamburg, 27 women have so far filed complaints, of which 10 were sex attacks and 17 dealt with the robbery of purses and telephones.

One witness told the paper more and more foreign men came into a Hamburg club and were grabbing women's backsides.

Local police spokesman Holger Vehren said: 'The information we have so far is that the victims were targeted at the same time by more than one man with a southern or Arabic-looking appearance.'

BOOM IN IMMIGRATION LEADS TO HEIGHTENED TENSIONS Cologne, located in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, is a 2000-year-old city which was first established as an outpost of the Roman Empire. Throughout the following centuries, its population has steadily increased to now number more than 1million people, with a total of 3million living in the wider area. The huge population boom is attributed to immigration, much of which comes from Turkey. Official statistics show that in 2006, just over 30 percent of the population were migrants and 120,000 were Muslim. However, these figures are likely to have drastically altered in the past two years as waves of migrants from Syria and other conflicts in the Middle East make their way into the country. Last year alone Cologne welcomed 10,000 migrants into the city. The exact numbers of the recent influx have not yet been confirmed by official statisticians, but in 2012 - before the worst of the asylum-seeking crisis had begun - migration flows had already risen by a third from the previous year. This huge migration, which many in Germany fear will over-run existing social systems and infrastructure, has been partly facilitated by Chancellor Angela Merkel's willingness to take in 1million migrants this year alone. Advertisement

It also quoted two schoolgirls, aged 17 and 16, who were at a New Year's market.

Describing feeling as though they were being 'hunted', they said they were tripped up and grabbed from behind.

'We were completely in panic, hands were touching us all over. When you pushed one hand away, there was another one suddenly back on the same place. There were grabbing us on our breasts, crotch and backsides.'

In Stuttgart, Bild claimed that around 15 Arabic-looking men had met on the Schlossplatz and, despite the fact that thousands of people were around, had grabbed a group of 18-year-old girls who they groped on the crotch.

The screaming girls had only been rescued when two men stepped in and the attackers ran off, stealing their mobile phones in the process.

In Cologne, an undercover policewoman was reported to be one of those attacked, while police say they expect more victims to come forward.

Last night up to 300 people, according to police estimates, gathered in front of Cologne cathedral calling for more respect for women.

One female demonstrator held a sign reading: 'Mrs. Merkel, what are you doing? This is scary'.

Heiko Maas, Germany's Justice Minister, said the assaults represented 'a new dimension of crime that we will have to get to grips with,' adding that they had appeared to be 'coordinated'.

Asked by a journalist whether refugees were behind the rampage, Maas said police were still working to identify the attackers.

'This is not about where someone is from but what they did,' he said. 'Making an issue out of it, lumping it together with the refugee issue, is nothing but exploitation. Now is the time to determine the facts and then decide on the necessary consequences.'

And Thomas de Maiziere, the Interior Minister, yesterday lashed out at police in the city of Cologne for failing to stop the attacks.

'The police cannot work in this way,' de Maiziere told public TV channel ARD.

Querying why the police cleared the town square before the attacks occurred in the same location, he added he was 'urgently demanding clarification' about the police's purportedly late reaction.

Regarding concerns the men were migrants, he added: 'You cannot draw a general suspicion against refugees from the indications that they were perhaps people who looked North African.

The first refugees arrive at the holiday park Droomgaard in Kaatsheuvel, a village in the Dutch province of North Brabant on January 6

A group of refugees and migrants wait at the holiday park in the Netherlands, where some 1,200 refugees will be temporarily housed

Asylum-seekers, clutching suitcases containing their most precious possessions, prepare to move into their new homes in the Droomgaard holiday park, in the Netherlands

Asylum-seekers walk down a path through the holiday park, where 1,200 refugees will be temporarily housed in the holiday accommodation

A view of the Droomgaard holiday park in Kaatsheuvel, a village in the Dutch province of North Brabant on January 6

'A bit of patience is necessary to clear up as completely as possible the structure of the perpetrators and the organizational structures there might have been.'

However, in the wake of the attacks, one of Germany's most powerful politicians and an ally of Angela Merkel has said that uncapped immigration must be stopped.

Horst Seehofer, the Bavarian leader of the Christian Social Union, said that the country should make sure that from now on there was an absolute limit of no more than 200,000 refugees per year into Germany.

He said: 'Speaking from experience of the past, I believe that Germany can probably accommodate between 100,000 and 200,000 asylum seekers from warzones per year.

'This number we can absorb, and can be integrated. But anything over that in my opinion is too much.'

And he added that refugees who do not have any identification should be turned back at the borders, saying: 'We need to restore the rule of the law in Germany and in Europe. This also means that anybody who travels into Germany must be able to have identification.'

The statement is enormously significant for Merkel as Seehofer is leader of the Christian Social Union, which is only present in Bavaria where it is the partner of the CDU. Together the two parties are known as The Union.

VICTIMS DESCRIBE TERRIFYING ORDEAL AT HANDS OF MOB ATTACKERS Since the vast scale of the attacks emerged, several victims have come forward to describe terrifying scenes in the marauding mob. Katja L, 28, said she was with three friends outside the station when they encountered a group of 'foreign-looking men'. 'Suddenly I felt a hand on my bottom, then on my breasts, then I was groped everywhere,' she told Cologne tabloid Express. Fireworks are set off among revellers in the city town square on New Year's Eve. The evening was marred by a wave of sex attacks that police say witnesses claim were carried out by 'Arab' or 'North African' men 'It was horrible. Although we screamed and flailed about, the guys didn't stop. I was beside myself and think that I was touched about 100 times across around 200 metres [220 yards].' A woman in her 30s, interviewed on rolling news channel N24, said she was groped by a group of 'Arab-looking men'. 'They didn't look at me aggressively, they seemed more curious than anything, and a little drunk,' she said. 'I was furious.' According to Bild, a student named Evelyn, 24, from Rheinland-Pfalz, who was at the train station in Cologne, said: 'I had a knee-length skirt on, and suddenly I felt a hand on my backside under my dress. I turned round immediately and saw a grinning face.' She said that she managed to get to the cathedral and sat on a bench and suddenly she was surrounded by men once again, and had only heard them speaking Arabic. 'The only English they knew was "Hey Baby". I was grabbed and held by the arm and it was a nightmare. We were trapped in a mass of people.' Lea Westkamp, 19, told a TV station: 'I was surrounded and helpless. I could do nothing. These men were all over me.' Advertisement

Meanwhile, Cologne mayor Henriette Reker has caused outrage for comments suggesting women need to be 'better prepared' for such incidents.

Instead of calming fears, she caused more upset with her suggestions on how women should behave to avoid similar incidents like remaining 'within your own group, and asking bystanders to intervene or to help as a witness'.

Speaking on live TV, she said women should be 'more protected in the future so these things don't happen again', Breitbart reported.

'This means they should go out and have fun, but they need to be better prepared, especially with the Cologne carnival coming up.

'For this, we will publish online guidelines that these young women can read through to prepare themselves.

'In essence what it contains is the basics that you would expect, for example that women should keep a good distance from strangers and also stay away from large groups of men.'

She added that the code of conduct would soon be available online.

The statement caused a storm of outrage on social media with people asking whether women should now feel guilty for being sexually assaulted if they failed to follow the rules.

Police stop and search men at city's central train station last night amid an increased police presence

The city's council has now admitted the town centre is a 'no-go area' for women after a councillor claimed it had been plagued by months of petty crimes prior to the sexual assaults

Police vehicles are parked by the city's main train station last night as police carry out foot patrols

GERMAN POLICE ARREST 'VIGILANTE HEADING TO TRAIN STATION CARRYING A MEAT CLEAVER' Police say the 26-year-old, arrested carrying this meat cleaver, was looking for revenge for the sex attacks in Cologne German police have arrested a man alleged to have been looking to extract revenge from immigrants over the New Year's Eve sex attacks. The man, 26, was arrested by transport police yesterday morning while on a train heading to the station in possession of a meat cleaver. Arrested in Gelsenkirchen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, police said he appeared nervous about being checked so they decided to search his luggage. Police said he told officers he was shocked by the sex attacks at the station last week, and had decided to travel there to make sure it did not happen again. Volker Stall, a police spokesman, said the man wanted to 'bring things in order'. 'When he was asked what he was planning, he said he was travelling to Cologne in order to get a picture about what exactly happened there for himself. 'Asked what he planned to do with the weapon, he said that the meat cleaver was a part of that process.' Advertisement

Others suggested that banks should avoid bank robberies by keeping armed robbers at arm's length and used the hashtag #eineArmlange.

Others said such rules would be impossible to control in the carnival that occurs before Lent in Catholic countries like Germany, typically during February or early March.

However, Germany's Family Affairs Minister rebutted with comments reiterating that women in the country should be free to wear miniskirts and to go into whatever areas they wish without fear of sex attacks.

Speaking to local media outlets, Manuel Schwesig, 41, said urgent action was needed to stop the return to a time when women could no longer move around freely and did not have the freedom to wear what they want.

She described events in Cologne, Hamburg and Stuttgart as abhorrent.

She said: 'We need to make clear that the values in Germany include the fact that women need to be treated with respect.

'I don't want to end up once again where we have to debate about what women need to do to avoid incidents like this. Instead we need to change the attitudes of the men.'

Many German politicians are now hardening their stance and speaking publicly about the need to stop the influx of immigrants after it was revealed that most of the men seem to have been either from North Africa or the Arabic world.

CSU-general secretary Andreas Scheuer told the Rheinischen Post that there should be an immediate stop in the influx of immigrants.

He said: 'It is inconceivable and unacceptable that women in the big German cities can be sexually assaulted and robbed in public streets and public places by young migrants.'

Others however warned against overreacting against the news of the sex attacks, such as sociologist Ortwin Renn from the University of Stuttgart.

He said it was wrong to pretend that all immigrants were angels, just as it was to do the opposite.

He pointed out that millions of immigrants celebrated the New Year in a peaceful way, but added that because the sex attacks received media attention they had been given undue prominence and 'more value than they deserved'.

He added: 'There is no more criminality among Arabs or Muslims than anybody else.

'We statisticians say always that there is an equal amount of good and bad in people regardless of their country or their ethnic group.'

A huge crowd of people gather to watch a firework being set off in front of the city's famous Gothic cathedral

A police van moves through the crowds that gathered in the famous town square to see in the New Year

However, German media and some public authorities are facing accusations they ignored or covered up simmering problems due to fears it would stoke tensions surrounding the country's immigration policy.

German public broadcaster ZDF has apologised for delays in reporting on the wave of sexual assaults amid accusations of media self-censorship of the inflammatory issue.

The rash of attacks and thefts was only widely covered by national media early this week, after police had initially reported no major incidents.

News editors of ZDF's flagship 'Heute' [Today] evening news programme apologised on social media for not reporting on the incidents at least in its Monday evening bulletin, four days after the attacks.

'The news situation was clear enough. It was a mistake of the 7pm Heute show not to at least report the incidents,' wrote deputy chief editor Elmar Thevessen on the show's Facebook page.

Editors had decided to postpone the news segment to Tuesday, the day Cologne's city hall and police held a crisis meeting on the attacks, he wrote, admitting this was 'a clear misjudgement'.

Meanwhile, Bild, which is the country's biggest selling daily newspaper, has accused officials of ordering a cover-up of the extent of crime carried out by illegal immigrants.

It has published photographs of asylum seekers exchanging money in small packets at the central train station of Frankfurt.

The paper said that all of the officials dealing with the problem had been ordered not to talk about it, as it was a subject which was extremely sensitive and forbidden to be spoken about in an 'offensive manner'.

The reason was to avoid alarming the general public, already concerned about the vast number of asylum seekers being allowed in the country, but also in order to avoid providing material for right-wing extremists.

Former German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich branded it as a cartel of silence and a blackout of news on his Facebook page, adding that they were now seeing the consequences of uncontrolled immigration which 'can no longer be swept under the carpet'.

MUSLIM LEADERS CALL FOR RESIGNATIONS OVER POLICE 'FAILURES' Germany's Muslim leaders have called for resignations over Cologne police failures to prevent the attacks at the New Year's Eve celebrations Muslim leaders in Germany say police and security agencies are responsible for an 'unparalleled failure' in Cologne and have called on bosses to step down. Lamya Kaddor, president of the Liberal Islamic Association, said: 'It is more than shocking for me especially as a woman the way the police can allow something like this to happen. 'If it is true, what we have here is that 1,000 men managed to get together with the express objective of assaulting women, then I would expect personal consequences with both the police and the security services.' The Islamic studies expert, originally from Syria, also alleged that the sex attacks were being instrumentalised for political reasons. She said: 'This discussion is being driven by those on the far right. They seem to be implying that this scandal is something to do with the possible ethical or religious background of the attackers.' She highlighted the case of the former interior minister Hans-Peter Friedrich who posted on his Facebook page about a cartel of silence and a news blackout when it came to the question of immigration crime. She said she was outraged that he had written that they were now seeing the consequences of uncontrolled immigration which 'can no longer be swept under the carpet'. She added: 'That just shouldn't be allowed. A former government minister should stick to the facts. 'The direction that the reports are taking disturbs me. Patriarchal behaviour is not just a problem in Islam, it is also problem in South America and India, so not just in Muslim countries.' Bekir Alboga, the spokesman for Germany's Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB), said: 'When the investigation shows that there were indeed 1,000 men that are gathered together with the aim of assaulting celebrating German female citizens and that those women couldn't be protected from sex attacks, then I think those that were responsible for failing to provide that protection should see consequences.' He added: 'It is incredible that in the main train station area so many crimes can have been carried out, yet the police and indeed other people who were there didn't seem to notice anything. 'If this is true as it is written, then we would expect from both the managers of the train station and the police as well as the security services that it is properly investigated. 'It is also amazing that if there were 1,000 people speaking a North African language, it sounds like an organised thing. Whatever way you look at it, it's bizarre.' He added however that ‘culturalising’ crime is wrong. He said: 'It's well known for years that Islam condemns both theft, sex attacks, violence and alcohol.' And Aiman Mazyek, the president of the Central Council for Muslims, said the inevitable consequence of the events was that more policemen with migrant backgrounds were needed to be added to the force. He added: 'Only in this way can we send a stronger message about the defence of democracy and fight against right-wing extremists, who are stoking the fires of hatred against asylum seekers almost daily, calling for the defence of the Christian country and accusing migrants of sexism.' Advertisement

Meanwhile police union chiefs have launched a fierce defence of officers, saying the Cologne sex attackers could feel emboldened to carry out new attacks because they have little to fear from the police or the justice system.

'It is highly unlikely that the perpetrators of the Cologne attacks will ever face justice,' said police union chief Rainer Wendt.

If the offenders were not caught, 'they will feel absolutely emboldened to commit such acts again in the shadow of anonymity,' he cautioned.

He said that police lacked the personnel to make effective enquiries, adding that CCTV footage didn’t always provide proof of a crime.

The union chief also defended Cologne police from accusations from Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière that they had failed in their duty to protect.