--- description: Roving packs of men sexually assaulted dozens of women on New Year's Eve in western Germany's city of Cologne, officials said. title: Packs of Men Sexually Assaulted Dozens in Germany on New Year's Eve image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd5ae21152674adf0/6988778abc6cfc2e0b3db10d/cologne-germany-sexual-assault-cases-police.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Packs of Men Sexually Assaulted Dozens in Germany on New Year's Eve by [Carlo Angerer/NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## Carlo Angerer/NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 5, 2016 1:59 PM CUT  German federal justice minister Heiko Maas delivers remarks in Berlin on the New Year's Eve assaults in Cologne, Germany, Jan. 5, 2016. German federal justice minister Heiko Maas delivers remarks in Berlin on the New Year's Eve assaults in Cologne, Germany, Jan. 5, 2016.Britta Pedersen—DPA/AP by [Carlo Angerer/NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## Carlo Angerer/NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 5, 2016 1:59 PM CUT MAINZ, Germany — Roving packs of men sexually assaulted dozens of women on New Year’s Eve in western Germany’s city of Cologne, officials said, describing the attacks as unprecedented. The spree suggested a “new dimension of organized criminality,” German justice minister Heiko Maas told a press conference on Tuesday. Police said the attackers — who struck in pairs and groups of up to 20 men — appeared to be part of a larger, 1,000-strong group that had gathered in one of the city’s main plazas for New Year’s celebrations. Cologne’s police spokesman Thomas Held told NBC News that authorities had fielded around 90 complaints of… [Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/cologne-police-roving-packs-sexually-assaulted-dozens-new-year-s-n490371?cid=par-time%5F20160105 "undefined") Cologne Sex Assaults: Dozens of Women Attacked on New Year's ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4167423/cologne-germany-new-years-eve-sexual-assault/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4167423/cologne-germany-new-years-eve-sexual-assault/"},"headline":"Packs of Men Sexually Assaulted Dozens in Germany on New Year's Eve","datePublished":"2016-01-05T13:59:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:46:43.350Z","description":"\"It was horror,\" one woman said","url":"https://time.com/4167423/cologne-germany-new-years-eve-sexual-assault/","keywords":["Germany"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd5ae21152674adf0/6988778abc6cfc2e0b3db10d/cologne-germany-sexual-assault-cases-police.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Carlo Angerer/NBC News"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd5ae21152674adf0/6988778abc6cfc2e0b3db10d/cologne-germany-sexual-assault-cases-police.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"German justice minister Heiko Maas on assaults in Cologne","caption":"German","creditText":"Britta Pedersen—DPA/AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4167423/cologne-germany-new-years-eve-sexual-assault/","name":"Packs of Men Sexually Assaulted Dozens in Germany on New Year's Eve"}}]}] ```