Berlin Police Give all-Clear After Closing Christmas Market

Berlin police gave the all-clear on Saturday after earlier evacuating a Christmas market that was the scene of a fatal attack three years ago to investigate a possible suspicious object, which they did not find.

Tunisian Anis Amri ploughed a truck into the Christmas market at Breitscheidplatz in 2016, killing 12 people. Amri, who had Islamist militant ties, was later shot dead by Italian police after he fled Germany.

“Our police measures around #Breitscheidplatz are finished. A dangerous object has not been found,” Berlin police tweeted. “In the evening, our colleagues had found two people who behaved suspiciously at the #Breitscheidplatz and checked them.”

Daily newspaper Bild quoted a police spokesman as saying that the two men were stopped after leaving the square at a conspicuously fast pace and that, on taking their names, officers believed one was the subject of an arrest warrant.

The police cleared the square as a precaution. However, they subsequently realized the man’s name was similar to someone facing an arrest warrant, but not an exact match, Bild reported.