Overview
- The new session begins at 11:11 with tens of thousands expected at Heumarkt, Alter Markt and the Zülpicher area.
- More than 1,000 police officers are on duty, supported by about 450 municipal staff and roughly 1,200 private security workers.
- A street-carnival knife ban is in force with targeted checks, fines up to €10,000 and a warning against real-looking weapon replicas.
- The city has prohibited drones from 06:00 to 02:00 over central hotspots, citing crowd safety and the risk of misuse.
- Crowd and transport controls include a glass ban in large zones, capacity-limited entry to Kwartier Latäng, a unified command center in Deutz, heightened protection for the nearby synagogue and KVB service changes with station closures, reroutes and replacement buses.