In this Saturday Jan. 16, 2016 picture police stand in front of a cafe during raids in Duesseldorf, Germany. Police have arrested 40 men in raids in the German city of Duesseldorf linked to a long-running investigation of suspected organized theft by people of North African origin. Police said Saturday evening鈥檚 raids on 18 cafes, gaming houses and bars near the main railway station were planned last year and not triggered by New Year鈥檚 Eve assaults and thefts in nearby Cologne. dpa via AP
D脺SSELDORF, Germany鈥擡ven 73-year-old retiree Edris says he has not been spared suspicious questions from Germans after a rash of sex assaults in Cologne blamed on North Africans.
鈥淚f there is a criminal Moroccan, it boomerangs back to all of us,鈥� said Edris, who moved to Germany from Morocco 47 years ago, adding that criminal Arabs are 鈥減igs.鈥�
Germany鈥檚 Maghreb community has come under a harsh spotlight after hundreds of women were groped and robbed by mainly North African suspects on New Year鈥檚 Eve outside the Cologne鈥檚 main train station.
READ: New Year鈥檚 sex assaults stoke German migrant debate
Only one suspect鈥攁n Algerian asylum seeker鈥攈as been arrested so far over the sex crimes and 25 Moroccans and Algerians count among the 30 suspects under investigation, police said.
鈥淥ver the last three weeks, the Maghreb community has been stigmatised like the enemy,鈥� Samy Charchira, a social worker in the western city of Duesseldorf, which is also home to the biggest number of Algerians and Moroccans in Germany.
鈥淭hat has had serious consequences with people subject to verbal or physical attacks. It鈥檚 very worrying,鈥� said Charchira, who is also a government advisor on issues relating to Islam.
Even before the full scale of the Cologne rampage emerged, Berlin had already been watching with concern at a sudden jump in the number of Moroccan and Algerian asylum seekers in December.
German authorities recorded 847 Algerian asylum seekers in June, but six months later, that figure reached 2,296.
For Moroccans, the number had jumped from 368 in June to 2,896.
The Cologne violence has only added impetus to the authorities鈥� plans to bring down the numbers.
READ: Cologne violence cases up to 379, most suspects migrants鈥損olice
Chancellor Angela Merkel wants the North African countries to be added to a list of nations of 鈥渟afe origin,鈥� meaning that their nationals would have little chance of winning asylum.
Berlin is also pressing Algiers and Rabat to take back their nationals who have failed to win asylum, so as to free up resources to deal with bona fide refugees among the nearly 1.1 million migrants who arrived in Germany in 2015.
鈥楰nown troublemakers鈥�
Social workers lament that many in Germany now regard Moroccans and Algerians as criminals in the wake of the Cologne melee, even though the majority are upstanding citizens who have lived and worked alongside other communities in peace in Germany for decades.
The first North African migrants arrived in the 1960s to keep Germany鈥檚 factories running or to take on the dirty and tough job of coal mining.
Since the end of the 1980s, their profiles have changed, and many who have arrived are students.
Members of the North African community are quick to distance themselves from a handful of petty criminals who they say are sullying their reputation.
鈥淲e are unsettled,鈥� said Mohammed Aljannayi, who heads the Moroccan community association in the Cologne district of Kalk.
鈥淢any women don鈥檛 trust us anymore in this district because of these people, who have acted so unconscionably that I am at a loss for words,鈥� he told Stern magazine.
Charchira said that 鈥渋n Duesseldorf, it鈥檚 a group of 40 to 50 young men who are known鈥� trouble-makers giving the community a bad name.
鈥淪ome are street kids in their home countries,鈥� he said, adding that 鈥渙thers came from Spain, Italy or France where they have resided illegally.鈥�
A 38-year-old hairdresser of Moroccan origin who declined to give his name said 鈥渢hese youth who have come to Germany have no future.鈥�
鈥淥ur district was normal but many things have changed now,鈥� said the man, who was born and bred in Duesseldorf.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 go to certain areas because I am afraid of gangs there,鈥� he said, adding that the New Year鈥檚 Eve chaos has 鈥渄estroyed our reputation.鈥�