The New Year's Eve Terror Alert - Roncalliplatz
Just before Christmas 2023, a tip about an alleged Islamist plan to attack Cologne Cathedral with a car on New Year's Eve shut the cathedral to tourists and put about 1,000 officers on guard around this square. Five men were detained, but no one has been convicted of a Cologne plot.
À propos de ce lieu
Roncalliplatz, the broad square on the cathedral's south side, is where Cologne gathers for its biggest Christmas market, framed by the bronze south portal doors of Ewald Mataré, the soaring south tower and the brutalist Romano-Germanic Museum, built over a Roman Dionysus mosaic found in 1941. In December 2023 it became the front line of a terror alert. Security services warned that an Islamist network, allegedly linked to the Khorasan branch of the so-called Islamic State, was planning to strike the cathedral on New Year's Eve, reportedly with a car. Police searched the cathedral and the underground car park with sniffer dogs, closed the building to sightseers over the busiest week of the year and let in only worshippers after security checks. A first suspect was taken into custody in Wesel on Christmas Eve, four more men followed on New Year's Eve, and about a thousand officers ringed the cathedral as the year turned. The night passed peacefully, most of the men were soon released, and as far as is publicly known no one has been convicted of planning an attack here. It remains a story of an alarm, not an attack.
À retenir
- 1000 police officers — About 1,000 officers guarded the cathedral and its squares on New Year's Eve 2023, and the night passed peacefully.
- 100000 tourists — More than 100,000 tourists normally visit the cathedral in the last week of the year. In 2023 they were kept out, and only worshippers entered after security checks.
- 5 men detained — Five men were taken into custody in Germany over the alleged plot, yet as far as is publicly known none has been convicted of planning an attack on Cologne Cathedral.