Germany’s Rock am Ring Festival Evacuated After Terror Threat
The Rock am Ring Festival in Nuerburg, Germany was evacuated Friday following a terror threat at the festival grounds.
“Due to a terrorist threat the police have advised us to interrupt the festival,” organizers said in a statement. “We ask all festival visitors to leave the festival in a calm and controlled manner towards the exits and camping grounds. We have to support the police investigations.”
Even though security presence at the festival was increased to 1,200 officers following the terror attack on an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, Rock am Ring was evacuated following “concrete evidence of a possible terror threat,” police said in a statement (via CNN).
Liam Gallagher and Rammstein were among the artists scheduled to perform Friday.
According to the Daily Star, after organizer Marek Lieberberg appeared onstage to tell festivalgoers they must evacuate due to the terror threat, attendees started chanting “terror is shit, shalalala” and singing “You’ll Never Walk Alone” as the crowd of 85,000 people headed toward the exits. Bomb-sniffing dogs were also spotted on scene.
In a follow-up statement, Rock am Ring organizers were hopeful that the festival would resume as scheduled on Saturday.
“The organizers of Rock am Ring and the police are working nightshifts to take all necessary measures to guarantee a safe festival. More detailed information will be announced tomorrow at 11 a.m. at the press conference of the Ministry of the Interior of Rhineland-Palatinate,” organizers said.
“We will inform you as soon as we have confirmed information about the possible continuation of the festival. Unfortunately we have to rely on external sources for these information. We all hope to rock on together tomorrow.”