The “Rock Am Ring” Rock Festival held close to the Nuerburgring race track near Koblenz in Germany was forced to be evacuated Friday night after “concrete leads” were received about a possible Terror threat. Koblenz police said in a statement that due to a possible terror situation, they told the organizer to stop the concert temporarily, as a precaution. It is hoped that the festival can continue on Saturday.
‘Rock am Ring’ festival had barely started when it happened
As reported by the New York Daily News, it happened shortly after the "Rock am Ring" festival started.
The headline act was German band Rammstein, but they had reportedly not yet started playing. Other bands and performers scheduled to appear at the open-air concert include Liam Gallagher, Machine Gun Kelly, Macklemore and Liam Gallagher.
Everyone attending the open-air event was asked to leave in an orderly fashion and to head to the nearby camping grounds. Police said the organizer of the “Rock am Ring” festival was cooperating with security authorities. The statement added that while they couldn’t give the full background, they had received a "concrete warning" and it was impossible to rule out a possible terror threat.
Concert-goers sang as they evacuated the ‘Rock am Ring’ rock festival
As reported by the Telegraph, thousands of the concert-goers sang the song “You’ll Never Walk Alone” as they filed out of the arena.
Reportedly over 80,000 people had traveled to Nurburgring for the event.
The organizer of the festival, Marek Lieberberg, told reporters at the scene that it was hoped the annual, three-day open-air festival would resume on Saturday, but that so far this is not confirmed. Lieberberg added that the concert-goers reacted “fantastically” during the evacuation.
According to police, following the Manchester Arena suicide bombing after the Ariana Grande concert on May 22, changes were made to the security planning for the “Rock am Ring” festival with the number of security staff substantially increased to 1,200. The statement added that the police take all suspicious incidents and tips seriously and investigate each closely.
German rock festival saw a cancellation last year
The “Rock am Ring” experienced problems last year on its third and final day. The event was reportedly canceled after 80 people were injured by lightning strikes, eight of them seriously. According to the German Red Cross at the time, at least 72 of the concert-goers were hospitalized after the sudden storm struck.
