Germany’s famed Oktoberfest shut on Wednesday over a bomb threat, as Munich police investigated a deadly incident elsewhere in Munich, which saw a fire break out at a house rigged with explosives.
Police swept the site of the annual beer festival in downtown Munich after earlier mobilising around the burning residential house in the city’s north which they said had been the site of a deadly “family dispute”.
“Due to an unspecified bomb threat in connection with the incident in northern Munich, the festival grounds on Theresienwiese will remain closed until 5:00 pm,” police said on their WhatsApp channel.
The alarm about the incident in the city’s north was raised before dawn, when blasts were heard inside the burning house and police commandos rushed to the scene, where a van on the street had also been torched.
Police said that, “according to current information, the residential building was deliberately set on fire as a result of a family dispute”.
A badly injured person was later found nearby and had since died, they said, adding that “one other person is still missing, but there is no indication that they pose a threat”.
Police deployed a bomb squad to the residential house in the Lerchenau district as a column of smoke rose in the morning sky.
Bild daily reported that the dead man was suspected of having caused the explosion and fire in his parents’ house before killing himself, and that shots had been fired in the incident, but police did not confirm this.
Police said that “explosive devices were also discovered in the affected building. Special forces were called in for their defusal.”
Local newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung said the dead suspect has issued a written threat against the Oktoberfest.
Police only said that “due to an unspecified bomb threat in connection with the incident in northern Munich, the festival grounds on Theresienwiese will remain closed until 5:00 pm.”
“Security sweeps are currently underway in the restricted access areas around the festival grounds,” they said, adding that all staff there were requested to leave the festival grounds.
Munich mayor Dieter Reiter said in an Instagram video message that “an individual threatened the Oktoberfest, and the police and the coordinating committee unanimously agreed that we cannot take the risk of allowing people to attend the Oktoberfest under these circumstances.”
“The police will do everything possible to thoroughly search the entire Oktoberfest grounds by 5:00 pm this afternoon, in order to ensure security.
“If this is not achieved, I will make another announcement, and the Oktoberfest will not be opened today.”
The festival, which is held this year from September 20 to October 5, is considered the largest such gathering in the world. It welcomed 6.7 million visitors in 2024.
