“Germany: Five Arrested over Alleged Islamist Terror Plot Against Christmas Market”

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German police have arrested five men in connection with an alleged Islamist terror plot to attack targeting a Christmas market in southern Bavaria.

According to the Bild newspaper, three Moroccans aged 22, 28, and 30 were arrested alongside a 37-year-old Syrian and a 56-year-old Egyptian suspected of planning to use a vehicle to attack people at a Christmas market in the town of Dingolfing.

The paper, citing sources within the Bavarian State Office for the Protection of the Constitution (LfV), reported that the Egyptian man is believed to have been a mosque prayer leader. He is accused of recruiting the three Moroccans to carry out an attack on the nearby Christmas market.

Investigators are said to be currently considering radical Islamism as the chief motivation for the suspected plot.

The fifth suspect, a Syrian national, is alleged to have encouraged the others to carry out the potential attack.

Confirming the arrests, Munich Attorney General, Reinhard Röttle, said: “The swift action demonstrates how effectively the cooperation between the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the police, and the Central Office for Combating Extremism and Terrorism (ZET) functions within the Bavarian security architecture.”

Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann added: “I thank all the authorities involved in the search and arrest operation, especially the Bavarian State Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Bavarian Police This case impressively demonstrates the excellent responsiveness and efficiency of our security authorities and shows: We are capable of protecting our citizens!”

“Thanks to the excellent cooperation of our security authorities, several suspects were arrested in a very short time, thus preventing a potentially Islamist-motivated attack in Bavaria. The background to this must now be clarified by our specialist departments together with the Munich Public Prosecutor’s Office.”

Multiple German Christmas markets have been cancelled this year amid concerns over Islamist terror attacks and the rising cost of providing security to attendees.

Merrymakers in the town of Overath in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia will have to look elsewhere for their mulled wine, bratwurst, and roasted nuts this year after organisers announced this week that its annual Christmas market will be cancelled.

In an effective admission that previous terror attacks had succeeded in their aim, the organisers said that they could not afford to enact the necessary security measures to prevent another attack, including hiring additional security officers and cordoning off the market to prevent car attacks.

Although they attempted to secure additional funding from the local city government, such efforts fell flat, the local Rheinische Post reported.

Additionally, the Christmas market in Kerpen has also been cancelled, according to the Kölner City Gazette.

“We were informed that we would have to cordon off Stiftsplatz from all sides. At the same time, we are not receiving any financial support from the city and have to manage everything ourselves,” explained organiser René Hövel, per Die Welt.

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Christmas markets have not been the only celebrations to face cancellations, with the Kessenich Autumn Festival in Bonn stating that it had to shut down due to being “unable to implement a viable security concept that meets current requirements.”

Organiser said: “An autumn market without protective measures against potential dangers, such as uncontrolled vehicles, is not an option for us.”

The growing need for security measures at Christmas markets in Germany comes in the wake of multiple deadly Islamist terror attacks on innocent festival goers.

The first major attack was in 2016 at the Christmas market at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin. Failed Tunisian asylum seeker Anis Amri intentionally drove a truck into the crowd of pedestrians at the market, leaving 12 people dead and dozens injured. Amri was killed days later in a police shootout in Milan.

Last year, a Saudi Arabian pro-asylum activist, who himself was granted asylum in Germany, drove a car at high speeds at merrymakers at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, killing six people and leaving 323 others injured.

This came just months after another asylum seeker, from Syria, went on a stabbing spree at a “diversity festival” in Solingen, killing three and injuring eight others.

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