Braunschweig Calls Off Christian Carnival In Fear Of Islamic Attacks

The German city of Braunschweig called of its annual Roman Catholic parade carnival due to a tip-off of a possible Islamic terrorist attack. The police issued a statement and advised those planning to make the trip to avoid the planned route or the trip altogether.

“Police request all visitors not to go to the planned parade route or not to make the trip to Braunschweig in the first place.”

The event is held every February in the city of Braunschweig in northern Germany, and usually pulls a crowd of up to 250,000 making it the largest parade of its kind in the area. More than 4,000 participants in fancy dress march down a six-kilometer (four-mile) route through the city.

The city’s mayor, Ulrich Markurth, and the parade’s marshal, Gerhard Baller, made the decision to call off the parade. Mayor Markurth announced the news with sadness.

“This is a sad day for our city. The assessment of the police however left us with no other choice.”

The cancellation of the parade comes after two terror attacks in Copenhagen on Saturday, one at a cafe hosting a “Blasphemy Conference” on free speech, in which a 55-year-old civilian was killed, and a second at a synagogue, where Jewish security guard Dan Ozan, 38, was killed.

Just last month, Germany’s biggest carnival procession, in the western city of Cologne, banned a float paying tribute to the slain cartoonists of French magazine Charlie Hebdo due to security fears.

The threats comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pleaded to European Jews to come back home to Israel.

Speaking at Sunday’s Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Netanyahu said, “[T]o the Jews of Europe and to the Jews of the world I say that Israel is waiting for you with open arms.”

“We say to Jews, to our brothers and sisters. Israel is your home. We are preparing and calling for the absorption of mass immigration from Europe. I would like to tell all European Jews and all Jews wherever they are, Israel is the home of every Jew.”

Mr. Netanyahu welcome comes after a local rabbi, Yitzchok Loewenthal, in Denmark’s most populated city, said on Sunday that members of the Jewish community fear leaving their homes following reports of multiple shootings in the Danish capital.

[Image via Wikipedia]