Overview
- Overath scrapped its Christmas market after the city declined to cover rising security and anti‑terror costs, while Kerpen is scaling back to a smaller "Genussmarkt im Advent."
- Darmstadt Marketing GmbH purchased about €500,000 in certified mobile vehicle barriers to secure its market and plans to rent the systems to other municipalities to offset expenses.
- A May Hessian Interior Ministry directive requires certified technical barriers at access points for events expecting more than 15,000 visitors, replacing ad‑hoc concrete blocks.
- Police and organizers are increasing visible measures, with Neuss deploying dedicated Christmas‑market patrols, enforcing knife bans and conducting bag checks, even where no formal city security plan is required due to size.
- Officials report no concrete threats to Austrian markets in Salzburg, yet organizers are spending six‑figure sums on CCTV and round‑the‑clock security as funding pressures trigger broader debates over who pays; Hamburg‑Rahlstedt’s market closed permanently after weak revenues.