For his part, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said the “bitter” decision to call off the Netherlands-Germany friendly was due to a series of indications that had accumulated throughout Tuesday afternoon in Hannover.
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Hanover city police chief Volker Kluwe said there had been “serious plans to cause an explosion” in the 49,000-capacity stadium, and that authorities had acted on “a concrete threat scenario”.
“The first vice-president of the DFB has a lot of tasks but he is not the official spokesman for the police department”, Koch said.
The scene was very different in London, as players and fans of the French and English soccer teams played at Wembley Stadium.
Dutch Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport Edith Schippers and Defense Minister Jeanine Hennis adopted the instance of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her whole team of ministers to attend the match. Nevertheless, asked if his country ought to cancel large public events in light of the threat, Maassen stated: “No, I would not recommend in that at all”.
One of two caretaker presidents in charge of the German football federation, Reinhard Rauball, later said the German players had left Hannover by late evening through various means, and that the Dutch team was flying out.
Germany’s national football squad was taken to a “safe place” by police.
The 14,000 capacity TUI Arena was due to host a concert by the band The Söhne Mannheims, the BBC reports. Merkel and ministers plane Berlin the way back, the stadium about an hour before the alarm whistle announced the start not evacuated in panic.
The victims of the Paris attacks – which claimed at least 129 lives with more than 350 injured – had been set to be honoured by candlelight in what had been described as “a friendly in the true sense of the word”.
Germany had provided the opposition for France in Friday’s game which was attacked by terrorists in Paris.
In the wake of Friday night’s attacks in Paris, in which a soccer stadium was targeted, fears at European stadiums have spread beyond Germany.
HANNOVER, Germany The friendly soccer game between Germany and the Netherlands was canceled at short notice after a suspicious object was found at the stadium on Tuesday.
There were unconfirmed reports a truck loaded with explosives was disguised as an ambulance and there was an attempt to drive it into the stadium.
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In the meantime, the security situation in the Hanover area had stabilised and there was no sign that Christmas markets might be targets for an attack, something that is worrying many Germans, said Pistorius.
