German rock festival to resume after terror scare
Police say searches at 'Rock am Ring' over; some 90,000 people due to attend weekend event
BERLIN, Germany — Germany’s biggest rock festival will resume after being disrupted by fears of a possible “terrorist threat” which have proved to be unfounded, the organizers said Saturday.
Police told AFP searches at the three-day “Rock am Ring,” held near the southwestern city of Koblenz were over.
Some 90,000 people are expected to attend the event which ends on Sunday.
“After a series of intensive searches across the site the fears of an imminent danger were not confirmed,” the organizers said.
“The police gave the go-ahead” for the festival to restart they said, without specifying when the event would resume.
The festival was evacuated on Friday evening after Koblenz police said they were in possession of “concrete elements, in the light of which a possible terrorist threat cannot be ruled out.”
Security for the festival had already been stepped up, with an additional 1,200 staff, in response to the May 22 Manchester bombing which occurred after a concert by US singer Ariana Grande.
Last year’s Rock am Ring program was curtailed by violent storms in which dozens of people were injured by lightning.
The country remains on high alert after a jihadist attack on a Christmas market in Berlin on December 19.
Anis Amri, a 24-year-old Tunisian, hijacked a truck, killed its Polish driver and ploughed the vehicle through the market, claiming 11 more lives and wounding dozens.