More than 1,000 men are believed to have split into gangs of 20-30 people and assaulted 106 women - two of them raped - as officers cleared a square to stop fireworks being thrown from steps into a crowd outside the city’s cathedral.
Some victims were also robbed by their attackers, who German police say have been described by witnesses as being of "Arab or North African origin".
Officials have cautioned against casting suspicion on refugees in general.
However, justice minister Heiko Maas told the Funke newspaper group "deportations would certainly be conceivable" if asylum seekers were convicted of participating in the attacks.
"The courts will have to decide on the level of sentences, but that penalty is in principle absolutely possible for sexual offences," he said.
Gangs of young, mostly drunk, men are being hunted on suspicion of the assaults.
Detectives are investigating whether the mass attack is linked to a known criminal network.
Sixteen suspects have reportedly been identified in video footage, but there have been no arrests.
Some 27 similar attacks at New Year street parties have been reported to police in the northern port city of Hamburg.
The incidents have sparked protests against violence against women.
They also fuelled calls from right-wing groups to shut down migration to Germany, which has taken in more than one million people in the last year, mostly from Middle Eastern war zones.
There have also been calls for the resignation of Cologne police chief Wolfgang Albers after he admitted officers initially failed to mention the assaults in their reports on New Year's Day and described the atmosphere in the city centre as "largely peaceful".
Flowers and a letter saying "one doesn't beat women, even with flowers" were placed outside the cathedral in Cologne on Thursday.
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