Oktoberfest tightens security in wake of deadly knife attack in western Germany

MUNICH (AP) — Safety has tightened at Oktoberfest within the wake of final month’s lethal knife assault in Solingen in western Germany, and officers warned revelers to count on longer traces at entry factors as metallic detectors can be deployed for the primary time within the Bavarian beer pageant’s 189-year historical past.

Authorities say there are not any particular threats to the world’s largest folks pageant, which begins Saturday with the conventional keg-tapping in Munich and runs by way of Oct. 6. Some 6 million contributors, many sporting conventional lederhosen and dirndl attire, are anticipated over the course of the occasion.

The stepped-up safety comes after an Aug. 23 assault in Solingen that left three lifeless and eight wounded. A 26-year-old Syrian suspect was arrested. He was an asylum-seeker who was presupposed to be deported to Bulgaria final 12 months however reportedly disappeared for a time and averted deportation. The Islamic State militant group has claimed accountability for the violence, with out offering proof.

The violence left Germany shaken and pushed immigration again to the highest of the nation’s political agenda. In response, the Inside Ministry prolonged short-term border controls to all 9 of its frontiers this week. The closures are set to final six months and are threatening to take a look at European unity.

The consequences of the Solingen assault — and different latest violence throughout Germany — will even be felt at Oktoberfest. Hand-held metallic detectors can be used for the primary time, with police and safety workers utilizing them on a random foundation or following suspicious exercise.

“We’ve got needed to react to the truth that assaults with knives have elevated in latest weeks and months,” Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter instructed The Related Press throughout a media tour of the pageant grounds to focus on the brand new safety measures. “We are going to do all the things we are able to to make sure that no one involves Oktoberfest with a knife or different harmful weapons.”

Along with some 600 cops and a pair of,000 safety workers, extra than 50 cameras can be unfold throughout the grounds of the pageant — which can be fenced off as properly. Competition-goers are also prohibited from bringing knives, glass bottles and backpacks.

Oktoberfest isn’t any stranger to elevated safety all through its historical past. In 2016, authorities applied tighter measures in response to a collection of assaults, together with when a German teenager fatally shot 9 folks at a Munich mall earlier than killing himself.

The pageant’s organizer, Clemens Baumgärtner, promised a protected public house, presumably “the most secure place in Germany” in the course of the 16 days of Oktoberfest.