UPDATE: Rock Festival to Proceed After ‘Terrorist Threat’ Shuts Down First Day
UPDATE: The festival's organizers have issued the following statement: "This is the news we all have been waiting for. Rock am Ring 2017 will go on! After intensive searches and sweeps of the complete festival site by the police, there was no corroboration of any signs of acute danger. Set up for day two of Rock am Ring has commenced, and the program will resume in the early afternoon. The incredibly disciplined fans deserve all our respect and gratitude. We keep you posted."
Germany's Rock am Ring festival has been shut down over an unspecified terror threat, the BBC reports.
Officials are confirming that the rest of the scheduled performances for today (June 2) have been cancelled. Today's slate of artists included Clutch, Five Finger Death Punch, Rival Sons and headliner Rammstein.
An announcement asking fans to leave "in a calm and controlled manner" preceded a mass exodus toward the exits at Nurburgring. A "terrorist threat" was blamed, organizers said via Facebook. "The police have advised us to interrupt the festival."
Concert-goers were told to go to a nearby camping area. Five Finger Death Punch guitarist Zoltan Bathory posted dramatic video of the evacuation to Twitter:
"Police from the nearby city of Koblenz said they had received information about a 'concrete threat,'" the Independent reports. The nature of the threat has not been confirmed; an investigation is on-going, according to the Standard.
Some 85,000 people were expected to attend the three-day Rock am Ring festival. Organizers said they planned to resume the event on Saturday. "The public reacted fantastically," festival representative Marek Lieberberg told the Telegraph.
This is the second year Rock am Ring has been halted. The festival was cancelled last year after scores of ticket holders were injured by lightning strikes. German Red Cross officials said at least 72 people were hospitalized after a sudden storm struck.
Today's incident follows a deadly bombing last month at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, U.K.; 22 fans were killed.
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