Police on alert as terrorists call for attacks also during Carnival
Islamists have used social networks to call for attacks, including during the Cologne carnival, Martin Lotz, head of the Cologne police's carnival operations, told dpa.
He said that these kinds of statement also aimed at unsettling the population and that the police's operational concept will be adapted again as the region prepares for days of festivities.
An Islamic State website shows a poster with four targets, two of which are in Cologne, one in Nuremberg and one in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam.
"We have no knowledge of any specific attack plans or any specific threat. This does not change our previous plans," said a spokeswoman for the Nuremberg police.
Security sources said the calls for violence were known and taken seriously, but that there was no change in the current assessment of the threat level, which was already considered to be high.
"We will once again sensitize the emergency services on the basis of the post and keep them informed," Lotz said, adding that the police were prepared for such developments given the tense security situation.
Cologne police said last week they were preparing for carnival with a strict security plan following the Munich attack and other acts of violence in Germany. They were referring to a deadly car-ramming attack in Munich earlier this month.
Carnival, or Karneval, also known as Fasching or Fastnacht, is an important part of German culture, particularly in southern Germany and the western Rhineland region.
Traditional strongholds of carnival culture include Cologne and Dusseldorf, where revellers gather for a raucous days-long party ahead of Ash Wednesday and the start of the Christian season of Lent.
Cologne police plan to deploy around 1,500 more officers than usual over the carnival period. The festivities begin on Thursday.
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