Overview
- FOCUS Online reports that some organizers have canceled seasonal markets, citing higher security expenses.
- Concrete bollards at entrances and expanded police patrols have become standard features at larger gatherings since 2016.
- The shift follows the Islamist attack on Berlin’s Breitscheidplatz Christmas market in 2016 that killed 13 people and injured more than 60.
- Bonn’s Kessenich autumn festival was also called off for similar security-cost reasons, according to the report.
- The article notes political disagreements over responses, contrasting a CDU lawmaker’s critique with SPD and Green proposals focused on urban prevention measures.