The parade draws about 250,000 people each year and people had already begun to arrive. It is a traditional pre-Lenten celebration prior to going into Ash Wednesday on February 18.
BERLIN, Germany — A carnival parade in the northern German town of Braunschweig was cancelled at short notice Sunday due to a “concrete threat” of an Islamist attack, police said.
“Reliable state security sources have made it known that a concrete threat of attack with an Islamist background exists,” authorities in Braunschweig said in a statement.
Police called on all visitors to refrain from visiting the planned route of the carnival parade and avoid travelling to Braunschweig.
According to a police spokesperson, the carnival parade was cancelled following a specific “threat assessment.” The officials would not provide specific information about the type of threat, but said that the inner city “was searched with explosives search dogs.”