2023-10-23 16:28:41
Threats against at least seven schools nationwide led to major police operations on Monday. ZDF in Mainz was also briefly evacuated due to a bomb threat. The all-clear was given there more quickly than at most schools. The background initially remained unclear.
Schools affected were in Karlsruhe and Mannheim (Baden-Württemberg), in Augsburg and Regensburg (Bavaria), Solingen and Wuppertal (North Rhine-Westphalia) and in the Thuringian state capital Erfurt. There were threatening emails everywhere that triggered major police operations on Monday morning.
Students were evacuated
For hundreds of students this meant a cancellation of lessons. They were evacuated or not even allowed onto the school grounds. Almost all schools were searched with sniffer dogs. However, no suspicious objects or other indications of a dangerous situation were found at the locations, police spokesmen said. It remained unclear until Monday afternoon whether there was a connection between the threats in several federal states.
According to police, a Mannheim community school was not searched. The email was discovered on Monday and the police were informed around 8 a.m. A staff was immediately formed and the situation was examined, but then the decision was made against an on-site deployment and also against evacuation of the community school.
A person responsible for the school in Solingen had already informed the police late on Sunday evening about a bomb threat that had been received via email. Emails with similar content were also received in the jurisdictions of other police authorities, it said. The state security agency has started investigating the background and the author of the emails.
At the Solingen comprehensive school, those responsible decided on their own that night not to start school on Monday, the police said. Meanwhile, another threat against a school in Wuppertal-Barmen became known, the police said, without giving any details.
Program failure at ZDF
A bomb threat was also made against ZDF. Several buildings on the site in the Lerchenberg district of Mainz were evacuated, including the broadcasting operations building and the high-rise where the station’s administration is located. The all-clear was given by the station as early as midday. The incident became noticeable on the ZDF program when the “heute Xpress” news was canceled at 9 a.m. and instead the breakfast magazine “Volle Kanne – Service daily,” which broadcasts from Düsseldorf, started a few minutes earlier.
A total of around 600 employees of the station who had to leave their jobs in the meantime were able to return to their jobs after the all-clear was given.
The State Museum of Prehistory in Halle was also evacuated on Monday due to a bomb threat and searched by explosives dogs. As the police in Halle announced, the threat was received in writing that morning. The police had taken all necessary measures, it said. The police station was supported by federal police forces. There was no dangerous situation.
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In recent months, bomb threats against schools and public institutions have repeatedly become known. It wasn’t until September that the police went to a school in Brandenburg.
In neighboring France, bomb threats have also kept the population on tenterhooks in recent days. The tourist magnet Palace of Versailles alone was evacuated seven times within eight days. Airports and the Louvre in Paris have also recently been the target of threats.
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