Germany has announced plans to make it easier to throw out foreign criminals and strip sex attackers of refugee status.
The decision follows hundreds of sexual assaults and robberies on women in Cologne on New Year's Eve by men of mainly Arab and North African origin.
Justice Minister Heiko Maas said no-one could put themselves above the law.
Thousands of far-right protesters on Monday blamed the Cologne attacks on Germany's influx of refugees.
More than 1.1 million people claimed asylum in Germany in 2015.
Police in Cologne say 553 criminal complaints have been filed by women in Cologne, and 45% are for sexual assault. The authorities said on Monday the perpetrators were almost exclusively from an immigrant background.
Speaking days after Chancellor Angela Merkel said "clear signals" had to be sent to potential offenders, Mr Maas tweeted that the core of the government's reforms would be to ease extradition of foreign criminals and strip them of refugee status if they had committed particular offences.
Penalties for sexual offences would be appropriate "regardless of current events", a government statement said (in German).
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