2023-12-23 21:33:00
German police announced that they would carry out searches in Cologne Cathedral (west) on Saturday evening with sniffer dogs, following a “danger notice” issued for New Year’s Eve.
“Even though the information relates to New Year’s Eve, from this evening we will do everything possible to ensure the safety of visitors to the cathedral on Christmas Eve,” said Cologne police chief Michael Esser , quoted in a press release.
After the evening mass and “in agreement with the head of security of the cathedral chapter”, the cathedral is searched with sniffer dogs, the police said.
“On Sunday, all visitors will be subject to screening before entering the place of worship,” it is specified in the press release. “The police and the cathedral chapter recommend giving up bags and arriving early at masses,” it is still written.
Several large cities threatened, people arrested
The German daily Bild states on its website that security services in Austria, Germany and Spain have received indications that an Islamist group wants to carry out several attacks in Europe possibly on New Year’s Eve and Christmas.
According to the newspaper, the targets of these attacks could be Christmas masses in Cologne, Vienna and Madrid.
Earlier in the evening, police in Cologne and Vienna said they were stepping up security measures due to a possible threat.
He also claims that the first arrests by special forces took place on Saturday in Vienna, as well as one in Germany.
According to German news agency DPA, the Islamist group could be linked to the Islamic State terrorist group in Khorasan, active in Central and South Asia.
A plan to also attack a Christmas market in France?
Five men, aged 20 to 23, were arrested on Friday in Meurthe-et-Moselle and taken into custody by the intelligence services in an investigation for criminal terrorist association, opened by the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (Pnat) .
The investigations must verify the degree of seriousness of a possible project, indicated another source close to the investigation, refusing to confirm or deny press information ensuring that the accused had carried out scouting on a market of Christmas.
The student arrested in Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy would have commented on social networks on a publication relating to the Christmas markets with aggression against these events.
This same source confirmed that the homes of the two students were searched on December 9. Investigators found a video filmed on the Strasbourg Christmas market, where they could hear: “And there we shoot”.
An attack on the Strasbourg Christmas market left five people dead and around ten injured in 2018.
The arrests took place Friday morning in Nancy, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy and Toul. They took place “following potentially worrying elements”, another source close to the matter said on Friday evening.
According to a third source close to the case, the people arrested are close to the Islamist movement.
The investigation is being carried out by the anti-terrorist sub-directorate (Sdat) of the judicial police and the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI).
These police custody intervene while the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin called on the prefects on Friday to “maintain extreme vigilance” on the occasion of the Christmas and Epiphany holidays, due to the “very high level of the terrorist threat which continues to weigh”.
The five suspects were still in police custody early Saturday evening, according to a source close to the case.
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