Police in Cologne, Germany, say indications of a conceivable assault have led them to go looking the rustic’s landmark cathedral with sniffer dogsDecember 23, 2023, 6:25 PM ET• 2 min readFRANKFURT, Germany — Cologne police performing on indications of a conceivable assault searched Germany’s landmark cathedral with sniffer canine Saturday and stated worshippers attending Christmas Eve Mass would go through safety screening prior to being allowed in.In Austria, police in Vienna additionally stated they have been taking heightened safety features round church buildings and Christmas markets, deploying each uniformed and plainclothes officials.Neither police company specified the danger, however the German information company dpa stated government have been responding to indicators of a conceivable assault by way of Islamic extremists, with out bringing up a particular supply.Michael Esser, head of the prison investigation division of the Cologne police, stated in a information unencumber that the danger indications pointed to New 12 months’s Eve moderately than Christmas, however added that “we’re hanging the entirety conceivable in movement for the protection of cathedral guests on Christmas Eve.”Cologne’s towering cathedral, whose dual spires are 157 meters (515 toes) tall, is a significant vacationer vacation spot visited by way of some 6 million other people a 12 months.Police and cathedral officers steered the ones attending Mass on Sunday night to reach early and now not convey luggage or handbags.The Ecu Union’s house affairs commissioner, Ylva Johansson, warned on Dec. 5 that Europe faces a “massive chance of terrorist assaults” over the Christmas vacations because of fallout from the battle between Israel and the Palestinian militant workforce Hamas.
