Christmas markets are closed across Dusseldorf following threat to ‘crash a truck into revellers’
- City’s old town area reportedly closed down, where Christmas markets located
- Incident comes week after Berlin police closed markets with similar threat
- Twelve people were killed in Berlin in 2016 when car ploughed into busy Christmas market
The western German city of Dusseldorf has closed off its old town area, where its Christmas market is located, following reports of a threat to crash a truck into revellers there.
The Bild newspaper, citing police, reported that the Christmas market in the old town area as well as others across the city were closed after the threat was reported.
It added that emergency services, including armed police, had been spotted around the old town’s market squares and streets.
A police spokesman for Dusseldorf quoted by the Bild said police had closed the markets to be on the safe side, saying: ‘Safety must come first.’
Shoppers visit the Konigsallee urban boulevard in Dusseldorf in March 2016
A view of the TV Tower in Dusseldorf old town, the Dusseldorf Fernsehturm
Just over a week ago, police in Berlin closed roads and stepped up security around the Alexanderplatz Christmas market due to a phoned-in threat.
Berliner Zeitung reported at the time that an unidentified person had called police saying he planned to plough his car into the crowds of revellers.
Police gave the all-clear after about three hours, saying it was investigating suspected abuse of the emergency hotline.
Twelve people were killed in 2016 after a man drove a stolen lorry into a busy Christmas market in Berlin.
Dramatic footage showed the horrifying scenes in Berlin immediately after the lorry ploughed into a Christmas market, also injuring 48.
Another video, also filmed by a witness, shows the lorry next to debris from stalls at the market on Breitscheidplatz Square
Berlin Map
The video shows injured victims lying on the ground, groaning in pain and covered in blood at the market on Breitscheidplatz Square.
Others can be seen running around in panic, looking for help for those who are more seriously injured.
Sirens can be heard in the background as emergency services raced to the scene of the tragedy, which took place around 7pm yesterday.
Just moments before, people were enjoying mulled wine and festive food at the market, outside the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in the German capital’s main shopping area.
The attacker, Anis Amri, was killed in December 2017 in a shootout with Italian police in Milan.
Authorities had put him on a list of potentially violent Islamic extremists several months after he arrived in Germany.
He was separately being investigated for receiving benefits simultaneously under two different identities.