Cologne-style sex attacks could happen in Britain, Nigel Farage says

Asylum seekers have been blamed for the attacks

Ukip leader Nigel Farage

Mass sexual assaults similar to those that occurred in the German city of Cologne on New Year's Eve could happen in the UK if it remains part of the EU, Nigel Farage has claimed.

The Ukip leader blamed people who “come from countries where women are at best second-class citizens” for the attacks.

He argued that admitting large numbers of migrants to the UK would “reverse a hundred years of female liberation”.

“What we saw outside that train station in Cologne on New Year's Eve was truly and genuinely shocking,” he told a pro-Brexit rally in Newport, South Wales.

“I am not saying that we are not immune from such problems in this country.

“But to me, if you allow the unlimited access of huge numbers of young males into the European continent who come from countries where women are at best are second-class citizens, don't be surprised if scenes that we saw in Cologne don't happen more often.

“For goodness sake, do we want those young men within five years to have EU passports and to be able to come to our country and to reverse a hundred years of female liberation and to change our entire way of life? Surely the answer must be no.

“It is the job of the British Government to make our own laws, to control our own borders and its about time we started putting the interests of our own people first.”

While German prosecutors have said the “overwhelming majority” of the roughly 100 suspects identified were asylum seekers or undocumented migrants, most were not from Syria or Iraq.

As of last month, three out of 58 suspects arrested in connection to the crimes were refugees from those countries.