BERLIN (AP) — Police in Munich warned of a "serious, imminent threat" by Islamist extremists wanting to commit a terror attack on New Year's Eve and asked people to stay away from the city's main train station and a second train station in the city's Pasing neighborhood.
Police spokesman Werner Kraus told The Associated Press early Friday that "we have serious information and different tips about an imminent attack."
"After evaluating the situation, we started evacuating the train stations and also asked partygoers to stay away from big crowds outside," Kraus added.
Kraus said police had indications that the terror threat was connected to Islamist extremists, but he could not immediately give any further details.
The warning came about an hour before the city rang in the new year. Despite the police statement, thousands of people were on the streets of Munich at midnight to welcome the new year with fireworks.
German news agency dpa reported that both train stations were quickly evacuated and that trains were no longer stopping there.
Cities across Europe have been on edge since a terror attack in Paris in November killed 130 people.
A few days after the Paris attack, a soccer stadium in Hannover in central Germany was evacuated after a terror threat against a friendly match between Germany and the Netherlands. The authorities never reported any findings of explosives or concrete attack plans.
