BERLIN — The police chief of the German city of Cologne was dismissed Friday amid mounting criticism of his force’s handling of a string of New Year’s Eve sexual assaults and robberies blamed largely on foreigners.

The state government of North Rhine-Westphalia said it was sending Wolfgang Albers into early retirement, and the 60-year-old commander said he understood the reasons why.

Protesters have called for changes in Cologne after a string of sex assaults overwhelmed police on New Year’s Eve. The Associated Press

The state’s interior minister, Ralf Jaeger, said Albers’ removal was “necessary to restore public trust and the Cologne police’s ability to act with a view to upcoming major events.” Cologne’s annual Carnival is next month.

Albers had faced mounting criticism for the police response to New Year’s Eve attacks on women by groups of men within a 1,000-strong crowd described by police as predominantly Arab or North African in origin.

The German government said 31 suspects were briefly detained for questioning after the New Year’s Eve trouble, among them 18 asylum-seekers. The 31 included nine Algerians, eight Moroccans, five Iranians, four Syrians, two Germans and one person each from Iraq, Serbia and the United States.

None of the 31 has been accused of specifically committing sexual assaults, the aspect of Cologne’s disturbances that attracted most public outrage at home and abroad. Cologne police say they have received 170 criminal complaints connected to the New Year’s festivities, 120 of them sexual in nature.

Police failed to mention the attacks around Cologne’s main train station in their initial morning report on New Year’s Day, describing overnight festivities as “largely peaceful.”

Albers acknowledged that mistake earlier this week, but he dismissed widespread criticism that his officers reacted too slowly in response to reports of assaults and harassment of women.

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