Germany: Solid threat led to cancelling match

German politicians urged the public not to be cowed by the threat of Islamist attacks and said a concrete indication of a security threat had led them to cancel Tuesday’s football match between Germany and the Netherlands.

With security worries running high in Europe after shootings and bombings in Paris last Friday which killed at least 129 people, Chancellor Angela Merkel gathered top ministers and intelligence chiefs for a special meeting on the situation.

Chancellor Merkel defended the decision to cancel the match, saying “these are difficult decisions, perhaps the most difficult decisions in balancing liberty and security. But yesterday it was decided, correctly, to err on the side of caution.”

The state premier of Lower Saxony Stephan Weil said: “There was a concrete indication about a concrete danger based on confidential and secret information.”

His interior minister Boris Pistorius said indications of a security threat had hardened up over the course of Tuesday. He declined to confirm or deny media reports that a tipoff came from a foreign intelligence agency. Some newspapers said it was from France.

In the meantime, the security situation in the Hanover area had stabilised and there was no sign that Christmas markets might be targets for an attack, something that is worrying many Germans, said Mr Pistorius.

Mr Weil said every big event had to be assessed according to the current security situation, which had changed since the Paris attacks. ISIS has claimed responsibility for those and the French police raided an apartment in Paris where a Belgian militant suspected of masterminding the attacks may have been holed up.

Mr Weil urged people to continue with their normal lives.

“I will certainly not retreat into my shell, neither in my position as office holder, nor as a private person unless I receive concrete recommendations by those who deal with these issues intensively,” he told reporters.