Germany ‘freedom’ football match called off over bomb threat

HANOVER, Germany – German police said a bomb threat forced them to call off an international football match Tuesday, November 17 that was meant as a “symbol of freedom” after the Paris attacks and was to be attended by Chancellor Angela Merkel.

No explosives had been found so far and no arrests made after the Germany-Netherlands friendly in Hanover was cancelled and thousands of fans evacuated, said Lower Saxony state interior minister Boris Pistorius.

But Hanover city police chief Volker Kluwe said there had been “serious plans to cause an explosion” in the city’s 49,000-capacity stadium, and that authorities had acted on “a concrete threat scenario.”

“We received a serious indication that a bomb attack was planned inside the stadium tonight,” he told public broadcaster ARD.

The German team was playing France in Paris last Friday, November 13 when the Stade de France was rocked by 3 blasts triggered by jihadist suicide bombers outside the venue.

Head coach Joachim Loew had called Tuesday’s planned match “a clear message and symbol of freedom and a demonstration of compassion, as well as sorrow, for our French friends – not only in France, but throughout the world.”

Before the match, players had been practicing the French anthem “La Marseillaise”, planning to sing it as a show of solidarity with the shaken neighboring nation. (WATCH: France, England unite at Wembley to honor Paris victims)

“They wanted to make a statement against fear and terrorism, but it wasn’t to be,” said disappointed fan Philipp Beckermann, 38, from Dortmund, who was heading away from the stadium.

“We didn’t even get into the stadium before we heard it was called off,” he said, leaving the area with his girlfriend Judith.

“There was no information about why the game was called off, security has to come first I guess. But it’s going to be a pretty sad journey back to Dortmund for us now for nothing.”

City on alert

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere – who had been due to attend the match with Merkel – later said the event was cancelled “to protect the population,” but did not provide specifics.

He said “we had good reasons, difficult reasons” but added that describing them could “cause concern to the population.”

Pistorius told the press conference that rumors of an explosives-packed ambulance could not be confirmed.

Thousands of fans were evacuated from the HDI Arena less than two hours before the game had been due to start, as hundreds of police, some on horseback, secured the area.

The evacuation proceeded smoothly, with no signs of panic.

Merkel had just landed by plane with de Maiziere when the match was scrapped, and the chancellor flew back to Berlin, the minister said.

The German team’s bus, with the logo “Die Mannschaft” on its side, could be seen driving away, guarded by a convoy of police cars, in a fan’s video clip published online by the Bild newspaper.

“They are safe,” German Football Association (DFB) interim president Rainer Koch told sports news agency SID, an AFP subsidiary.

The Dutch team and the country’s Defense Minister Jeanine Hennis and Sports Minister Edith Schippers were also quickly evacuated from the area by German police.

Elsewhere in the city, a concert by US jazz saxophonist Maceo Parker was also cancelled and some 900 audience members evacuated, according to a tweet by the musician and national news agency DPA.

Police also advised people to avoid public transport and were checking cars, leading to lengthy traffic jams bathed in the blue light of flashing police sirens.

The victims of the Paris attacks – which claimed 129 lives with more than 350 injured – had been set to be honored by candlelight in what had been billed as “a friendly in the true sense of the word.”

The DFB had at the weekend already come close to calling off the match, while Belgium cancelled their friendly against Spain on Tuesday.

The German team is still coming to terms with what they experienced last Friday.

After the blasts, the Germans spent the night in the Stade de France changing room, before flying home early the next morning.

“There was a lot of fear and anxiety in the dressing room that night,” said Loew. “We were afraid.” – Ryland James with Frank Zeller in Berlin, AFP/Rappler.com