Euro 2024 fan zone is locked down and man arrested after ‘leaving backpack behind’ in Berlin viewing area hours before first game
a Euro 2024 fan zone is locked Berlin after a suspicious package was found hours before the first match of the tournament starts tonight.
Police in the German capital announced the find and sent bomb-sniffing dogs and a disposal team, while Bild reported that one man had been arrested.
The German tabloid reported that a suspicious backpack was found at the entrance to the fan zone, prompting the evacuation of the fan zone outside the Reichstag.
Police cordoned off an approximately 200-meter-wide section of the street while they inspected a suspicious package near the fan park.
The restricted area does not affect the entire fan zone. According to police, three entrances are closed, but one remains open.
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A fan zone for Euro 2024 has been closed in Berlin after a suspicious package was found hours before the first match of the tournament
The Reichstag fan zone was cleared by police officers on Friday for security reasons
“For security reasons, a restricted area has been established,” Berlin spokeswoman Beate Ostertag said. ‘The luggage is now being examined.
“It could also be that someone did not take it into the fan zone because the bag is larger than the permitted DIN A4 format,” she added.
Police said the restricted area is about 200 meters wide but does not affect the entire fan zone.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, speaking from Munich, thanked Berlin police for their response to the package.
“If in the end nothing is done, it is better to clean up too much than too little,” Faeser said, according to Bild. “That’s why we work so hard.”
A street is cleared and cordoned off by police officers while they inspect a suspicious package near the fan park
A police van is seen as officers inspect a suspicious package near the fan park
Germany will play against Scotland on Friday evening during the European Championship curtain-raiser at the Allianz Arena in Munich.
Well-known figures from the world of politics and sports will attend the opening match. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Scottish Prime Minister John Swinney and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will be present.
UEFA will honor the late German football legend Franz Beckenbauer at the pre-match opening ceremony, and Germany’s two living captains, Bernard Dietz (1980) and Jürgen Klinsmann (1996), will lift the trophy.
They are accompanied by Beckenbauer’s wife Heidi.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino will also be at the match – along with his former UEFA colleagues – after flying overnight from Zambia to Munich, where he completed a tour of African countries.
