German Chancellor Angela Merkel has proposed changes to make it easier to deport asylum-seekers who commit crimes following the sexual attacks on women commited on New Year’s in Cologne.

The attacks carried out by men of North African and Arab origin, according to witnesses, have questioned the migrant policy followed by German government.

Mrs Merkel speaking after a meeting of her Christian Democrat party leadership in Mainz she proposed stricter laws on migrant policy denying the right of asylum for those who have committed crimes, while those on probation could be also deported, as BBC reported.

“When crimes are committed, and people place themselves outside the law… there must be consequences,” she told reporters after the meeting.

According to current German laws, asylum seekers are only forcibly deported if they have been sentenced to at least three years’ imprisonment, and providing their lives are not at risk in their countries of origin.

Around 1,700 supporters of right-wing anti-immigrant Pegida movement and the local far-right group Pro NRW gathered in Cologne waving German flags and signs reading “Rapefugees not welcome”, “Germany survived war, plague and cholera, but Merkel?” and shouting “Merkel out”.

Violent episodes broke out with police using water cannon and pepper spray to disperse protesters while reports say bottles and firecrackers were hurled at police lines.