GETTY German prosecutors have denied reports that the Cologne attackers weren't refugees

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Furious lawyer Ulrich Bremer blasted stories which claimed just three of the men linked to the horrific sex attacks were refugees. The reports were circulated online by supporters of mass migration including a senior official at the United Nations (UN).

Instead an angry Mr Bremer revealed that the “overwhelming majority” of those men suspected of robbing and raping women during a mass sex attack in the German cathedral city “fall into the general category of refugees”. The bitter row comes at a particularly fraught time for Germany, which is being ripped apart by divisions over Angela Merkel’s controversial open door asylum policy.

GETTY Around 1,000 migrant men attacked women on New Year's Eve

GETTY The police have been heavily criticised over their handling of the crisis

German media and authorities were initially accused of trying to cover up the Cologne attacks after it emerged they had deliberately tried to withhold the ethnicity of the alleged perpetrators. The city’s chief of police was unceremoniously sacked for his shocking incompetence in handling the crisis after it emerged that officers had stood by for more than four hours before intervening to help the desperate women being attacked. The shocking incident - along with the November Paris attacks - has also been credited with turning the tide of public opinion against migrants across Europe, with far-right groups making big gains on the back of anti-refugee rhetoric. So it was with relief that supporters of mass migration leapt upon an interview with Mr Bremer in respected German newspaper Die Welt, which they claimed showed that just three of the 58 suspects arrested in connection with the Cologne attacks were refugees.

GETTY The attacks horrified Germany and turned public opinion against mass migration

GETTY They led to calls for a rethink of Angela Merkel's open door asylum policy

But the furious prosecutor shot back, insisting his remarks were taken badly out of context and twisted to fit a pro-refugee narrative. He blasted: "The overwhelming majority of persons fall into the general category of refugees. "They have various legal statuses, including illegal entry, asylum-seekers and asylum applicants. That covers the overwhelming majority of suspects." The confusion appears to have arisen because certain news outlets and campaigners were working on the basis that only people from Iraq and Syria count as refugees.

Cologne: Sex Attacks and Robberies Tue, January 12, 2016 Thirty-one suspects, including 18 asylum seekers, are under investigation over offences including sexual assault and theft in Cologne on New Year's Eve. Far right protestors in Lepzig have rallied against refugees and German chancellor Angela Merkel. Play slideshow Reuters•Getty 1 of 22 Protestors in Lepzig rally after over 100 women were sexually assualted on New Year's Eve

But Germany has also received huge numbers of predominantly young men from north African countries over the last year, with many Moroccans, Algerians and Tunisians being accused of taking advantage of chaos caused by the Syrian civil war to travel to Europe to establish new lives. Mr Bremer said that 73 suspects have been identified so far in relation to the Cologne attacks, with most of them coming from North Africa. He added that a total of 1,075 criminal complaints have been filed, including 467 alleging crimes of a sexual nature ranging from insults to rape.