Cologne police chief says sniffer canine will search constructing following indications of assault deliberate for New Yr’s Eve.
German police have searched a cathedral within the western metropolis of Cologne amid warnings of a doable assault deliberate for New Yr’s Eve.
Cologne police chief Michael Esser mentioned on Saturday that Cologne Cathedral could be closed and sniffer canine could be introduced in to go looking the constructing after the night mass service.
“Although the data pertains to New Yr’s Eve, we’re from this night doing every thing we will to make sure the security of tourists of the cathedral on Christmas Eve,” Esser mentioned in an announcement.
Guests on Sunday should endure safety checks earlier than coming into the cathedral.
German newspaper Bild reported that authorities in Germany, Austria and Spain have all obtained indications that an Islamist group was plotting assaults in Europe, with targets presumably together with Christmas plenty in Cologne, Vienna and Madrid.
On Saturday, particular forces in Vienna and Germany arrested a variety of suspects, Bild additionally reported.
Al Jazeera couldn’t independently verify the arrests.
Austrian police mentioned in an announcement they had been boosting safety for church buildings and Christmas markets because of the heightened state of alert.
“Provided that terrorist actors all through Europe are calling for assaults on Christian occasions, particularly round December 24, the safety authorities have taken the corresponding safety measures in public areas,” the police mentioned in an announcement.
Earlier this month, Spain’s Inside Ministry introduced it might ramp up safety measures for the Christmas vacation interval.
Cologne Cathedral, which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Website in 1996, is one in all Germany’s hottest vacationer sights, attracting greater than six million guests every year.
