Germany's ROCK AM RING Festival Resumes After Terror Threat Is Cleared

Germany’s Rock Am Ring festival resumed earlier today after police had to evacuate the site because of a “potential terrorist threat.”

Intensive searches were carried out by police before performances continued early Saturday afternoon.

More than 80,000 fans are reportedly attending the three-day event near the Nürburgring race track which was supposed to feature RAMMSTEIN as Friday night’s headliner. Saturday’s headliner is the German band DIE TOTEN HOSEN, while Sunday’s is SYSTEM OF A DOWN.

The evacuation came less than two weeks after a suicide bomber struck an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, killing 22 people and injuring over 100 more.

Last month’s attack led to changes in planning for Rock Am Ring, with more than a thousand police officers patrolling the event.

“Because of the last attack on a concert in Manchester, the security concept for Rock Am Ring was modified in advance and the number of security officers was significantly increased to around 1,200… Since a threat could not be ruled out, all necessary measures were taken immediately,” Koblenz police said in a statement.

Police said they had ordered a temporary halt to the festival as a precaution after receiving “a concrete warning that made it impossible to rule out a terror threat.” The police statement continued: “We cannot provide any further details on the background information.

“We take all tips and suspicious incidents extremely seriously and investigate closely,” the statement added.

On Saturday morning, the festival’s organizers released a new statement announcing the event would “go on.”

“After intensive searches and sweeps of the complete festival site by the police, the suspicion of a potential terrorist threat has not been confirmed,” the statement said.

“Set-up for day 2 of Rock Am Ring has commenced and the programme is going to be resumed in the early afternoon. The incredibly disciplined fans deserve all our respect and gratitude.”