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MASS SEX ATTACK SHOCK

Police probe allegations dozens of women were groped and sexually assaulted as they celebrated New Year’s Eve in Innsbruck

Mass sexual assault is a chilling echo of last year's mass sex attacks in Cologne during festivities

AUSTRIAN police believe dozens of women could have been sexually assaulted during Innsbruck's New Year's Eve celebrations. 

Cops confirmed an "unprecedented" 18 reports of assault, in a haunting reminder of last year's sex attack horror in the German city of Cologne.

Dozens of women have reported being sexually assaulted during New Year's Eve celebrations in the Austrian city of Innsbruck
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Dozens of women have reported being sexually assaulted during New Year's Eve celebrations in the Austrian city of InnsbruckCredit: Getty Images
The assaults are believed to have taken place while 25,000 people crowded into the city's main square
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The assaults are believed to have taken place while 25,000 people crowded into the city's main squareCredit: Getty Images

More than 25,000 people had gathered in Innsbruck's main square to see in the New Year.

But police now believe the celebrations were used as a cover for men to grope women in the crowd.

Senior police official Ernst Kranebitter said: "We've not had anything like this happen here before.

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"They were dancing around the victims and then suddenly grabbed their breast or stuck their hands between their legs.

"That's what made it hard for others to notice what was going on - it all happened amid festivities."

The suspects have been described as being in their late teens, he added.

Amateur video footage of the incidents has so far failed to help investigators identify the suspects because the image quality was too poor.

German police officers checking incoming people from North Africa in front of the Central Station in Cologne, Germany, on NYE. Tight security was prompted after hundreds of women were assaulted in the city last year
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German police officers checking incoming people from North Africa in front of the Central Station in Cologne, Germany, on NYE. Tight security was prompted after hundreds of women were assaulted in the city last yearCredit: EPA
Trouble last year was believed to have been led mainly by recent migrants to the country
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Trouble last year was believed to have been led mainly by recent migrants to the countryCredit: Xposure

The assault came a year after hundreds of women were mugged and groped in a crowd of men of mainly Arab and north African appearance in Cologne on New Year's Eve.

Police in Cologne prevented a group of 1,000 migrants entering the same square this year in a bid to prevent a repeat of the attacks.

In Vienna cops distributed 6,000 pocket alarms last week to help prevent attacks.

Police presence had been boosted across Austria, including in Innsbruck, for the end-of-year festivities in the wake of a terror attack in neighbouring Germany in early December.

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