Munich lifts alert after New Year terror threat

Police insisted that the Munich warning had been so credible that they had had no choice but to act, but they acknowledged that they had made no arrests and had not launched a manhunt for specific suspects.

“I believe this decision [to evacuate the stations] was right because I think we can not take unnecessary risks when we are dealing with such concrete threats, concrete locations, and a concrete time”, he added. He did not name the country but German television said in an unsourced report that the tip-off came from France.

Despite those warnings, thousands of people were on the streets of Munich at midnight to welcome the new year with fireworks.

Hubertus Andrae, chief of the Munich police, said Friday that no one had been arrested and that the authorities were unsure if the people whose names they had been given were even in the country.

German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said the situation in Germany and Europe “continues to be serious in the new year”.

The stations were evacuated on Thursday evening and service stopped for around eight hours.

Just 90 minutes before the southern German city was to ring in the New Year, police ordered the evacuation of Munich’s main rail station and another station in the west of the city after being tipped off about a possible “terror attack”. He said they had received personal data for some of the alleged attackers and were in the process of investigating and verifying the information.

In Russia, the state-run news agency RIA Novosti said that about 500 people had been evacuated from two train stations in Moscow after the police were told that bombs had been planted.

Andrae said so far there hadn’t been any arrests.

Early Friday, police allowed both train stations to reopen, they announced in a tweet. “Federal and state security services are following up on these indications, including of possible planned attacks”.

European capitals have been on high alert since November when Daesh militants slaughtered 130 people in a series of gun and suicide attacks in Paris, stoking fears they could stage further attacks over the Christmas and New Year holidays.

It has been reported that French intelligence agencies had notified Munich officials about the terror threat. The information included the names of several suspects, said Herrmann, who did not provide additional details.

On their Twitter feed, Munich police said: “Good morning to those, who spent the night out in #munich! Thanks for staying calm and for your understanding concerning our measures”, the latest message in English said. Police said on Thursday they were holding three people for questioning over an alleged plot.

In New York, about 1 million people crammed into the Crossroads of the World, brushing off security jitters to watch the glittering crystal ball drop in Times Square, marking the start of 2016.