On Friday night in Nurburg, Germany, the Rock am Ring festival evacuated tens of thousands of music lovers due to what authorities said is a “concrete threat.” Details are still scarce at this time, but following the deadly terror attack at a recent Ariana Grande concert, law enforcement is clearly taking the threat seriously. The BBC reports that the threat was terror-related in nature and occurred before tonight’s headliner, Rammstein, was set to perform. Festival organizers have confirmed a full on-site evacuation — and the suspension of all events until tomorrow — via their Facebook page:
Due to a terrorist threat the police have advised us to interrupt the festival.
We ask all festival visitors to leave the festival site in a calm and controlled manner towards the exits and camping grounds.
We have to support the police investigations.
All visitors will be kept informed about any developments on all Rock am Ring Social Media channels, radio and the speakers.
We hope that the festival will continue tomorrow. Thank you for your cooperation.
The Telegraph reports that at least 80,000 people (possibly 90,000) were expected to attend the three-day festival, which is still scheduled to run throughout the weekend. Some attendees reportedly first refused to heed the evacuation order, but social media videos (below) indicate that the evacuation was indeed calm and safe (yet defiant). Bastile, among other acts, was scheduled to perform tonight.
These clips show the evacuation as it began, although an evacuation (which has been ongoing for at least an hour) of this magnitude will undoubtedly take awhile.
https://twitter.com/jimmyalto/status/870738424935796736
Defiant spirits among Rock am Ring visitors, cheated out of a day of festival, maybe the complete festival pic.twitter.com/FZuzeUQZ9f
— Rick Fulker (@rickfulker) June 2, 2017
https://twitter.com/jimmyalto/status/870739980716351488
We will continue to update this report as more information becomes available.
(Via BBC, The Telegraph & Fox 10 Phoenix)