Possible attack plans: Police increase protection at Cologne Cathedral

Terrorism - Possible attack plans: Police increase protection at Cologne Cathedral

Security checks at the entrance, police vehicles in front of the cathedral: shortly before the Christmas services, the police have significantly increased security measures at Cologne Cathedral. According to dpa, the security authorities had received information about a possible plan by an Islamist group to attack the cathedral and a church in Vienna. According to the Cologne police, the information related to New Year's Eve. North Rhine-Westphalia's Interior Minister Herbert Reul made it clear that people should not be deterred from attending church because the protection provided by the authorities was working.

Police officers checked visitors to the cathedral on Sunday, as reported by a dpa reporter. The police were also present in front of the cathedral with officers and around a dozen vehicles. According to the church, tourist visits were not possible on Sunday. On Saturday evening, the police had already searched the cathedral with sniffer dogs, but reportedly found nothing conspicuous.

Security measures in Vienna

The police also increased security measures in Vienna. In Austria, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution arrested four people on Saturday during investigations into an Islamist network. Interviews with the suspects and corresponding evaluations are currently underway, the Directorate for State Security and Intelligence at the Austrian Ministry of the Interior announced in response to a dpa inquiry. Further details could not be given at present for reasons of criminal tactics. The newspaper "Bild" also reported an arrest in Germany. However, there was initially no confirmation of this.

According to a spokeswoman for the Vienna public prosecutor's office, there were no indications on Sunday that an attack in Vienna was imminent. She told the Austrian news agency APA that three men had been arrested in Vienna. Data carriers had been seized during house searches. They are being investigated for membership of a terrorist organization in connection with terrorist offences.

According to dpa information, the suspicious group could possibly be linked to an offshoot of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist network, which calls itself the Islamic State Province of Khorasan (ISPK) and has been engaged in an armed conflict with the militant Islamist Taliban in Afghanistan for several years. The spokeswoman for the public prosecutor's office in Vienna did not wish to comment on this.

In April, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution stressed that although the Islamic State (IS) terrorist militia in Syria and Iraq had been largely defeated, the organization as a whole was far from being destroyed. Head of the authorities Thomas Haldenwang said at the time: "Among the various offshoots of IS, the "Islamic State Province of Khorasan", or ISPK for short, stands out in particular."

Reference was made to New Year's Eve

Cologne police spokesman Wolfgang Baldes said on Sunday: "We received a tip-off about a dangerous situation around Cologne Cathedral, possibly also for Cologne Cathedral, which related to New Year's Eve." He did not want to comment on further details. The police would not say anything about the findings at present, even in view of further undercover investigations.

At the same time, the Cologne police made it clear that the increased security measures at the cathedral will continue for some time. "We now have to see how quickly we can actually verify this tip-off. It is certain that as long as a dangerous situation cannot be ruled out, we will of course continue these measures," said Baldes. The police still have very busy days ahead of them.

Appeal: Celebrate Christmas anyway

Despite the precautionary measures, North Rhine-Westphalia's Interior Minister Reul advised people not to refrain from attending church at Christmas for fear of an attack. "Our authorities are using all the information available to protect us in the best possible way. The measures in Cologne show this," emphasized Reul and added: "My appeal: go to church, celebrate Christmas. Fear is the currency of terrorists. We must not add to their value."

The church and police advised people to come to church a little earlier in view of the controls. Cathedral provost Guido Assmann said in an interview on cathedral radio that he would not let the joy be taken away from him. "I believe that all those who might want to make a threat or do something against our liberal state or against religious freedom would say 'we have won' when fear prevails." He emphasized: "The fact that we live in a constitutional state that protects religious freedom, that protects people when they want to come to worship, that protects everyone, I think that is a very, very valuable asset. And we are experiencing that here."

Reul: "We are not defenceless"

NRW Interior Minister Reul commented on the actions of the security authorities: "Caution is the order of the day. We know that the threat of terrorism is higher than it has been for a long time and our Christian holiday rituals are of course also a target for Islamist terrorists," he said. "But we are not defenceless," added the CDU politician.

Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser expressed a similar view. "We take the Islamist terror threat very seriously and are extremely vigilant," she told the Funke Mediengruppe. The security authorities had the Islamist scene in their sights and were acting consistently. "This is also shown by the current measures."

Since the terrorist attack by Islamist Hamas on Israel on October 7, fears have been growing that there could also be attacks in Germany. According to the police in Austria, the terror alert level is still elevated. The additional precautionary measures were taken to maintain general security in Austria.

Church services Cologne Cathedral Cologne police statement