New footage of the infamous Cologne New Year sex attacks shows how police officers struggled to contain the large crowds as hundreds of assaults were committed in the melee.

More than 1,100 criminal complaints were filed relating to the chaos outside the main train station in Cologne on New Year's Eve, with several hundred alleging sexual offences.

The previously unseen video sees police scuffle with a number of young men, while fireworks are being set off into the crowd, and a woman can be heard shouting 'you mustn't touch me, you mustn't touch me' in the background.

It shows police trying to control the situation, as revellers spill down into the square outside the station from the cathedral steps shortly before midnight on New Year's Eve.

Several fireworks and bangers are set off into the crowds, and a police officer can be heard saying 'we can't hold this,' The Local reports.

Local authorities have been plagued by accusations of cover ups and the city's police force has come under fire over their inability to catch those responsible for the sex attacks.

Despite hundreds of complaints of attacks and sexual assaults by what witnesses and victims described as mostly 'Arab or North African men', Cologne police initially played down the events.

Cologne police even released a statement the following day describing the New Year's celebrations as 'exuberant, but mostly peaceful'.

Although it was later retracted, a Cologne police chief has since been made to resign over the statement as it soon became clear that the events on the steps of the cathedral had been anything but peaceful.

Out of control: New footage from New Year's Eve in Cologne shows the celebrations going terribly wrong as police try to control the huge crowds of revellers

One woman can be heard shouting for someone not to touch her in the background of the video

Groups of young men light fireworks into the crowds during the New Year festivities, which police later admitted were out of control

Police notes from the night revealed how women complained they were surrounded by men who tried to put their hands inside their tights and knickers.

One woman told police she was surrounded by 20 men 'of North African appearance' before they attacked her, touching her intimately against her will.

One victim said she was pinched in the crotch, while another said hands were 'all over her breasts and buttocks'.

Thieves rifled through a woman's handbag while others distracted her by shoving their hands underneath her clothes.

The New Year celebrations in Cologne (pictured) were marred by hundreds of women reporting they had been sexually assaulted

The video emerged just days after police in Switzerland arrested the man they say was the ringleader of the attacks after he was spotted shoplifting in a German border town.

The 19-year-old was arrested after he fled from a store where he and a friend were in the process of stealing cigarettes and groceries.

The pair ran from the premises in Konstanz in Germany across the nearby border to Kreuzlingen in Switzerland where they were arrested after a store detective followed them and alerted local police officers.

The pilfered goods were found in the suspected Cologne attacker's rucksack after the arrest on Wednesday.