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Spelling error blamed for Rock am Ring disruption

The misspelling of the names of two Syrian workers was the catalyst for the evacuation of Rock am Ring 2017, police have revealed

By IQ on 15 Jun 2017

Rock am Ring 2017 crowd

Normal service resumed at Rock am Ring 2017


image © MLK

German police have said a spelling mistake was to blame for the disruption of the first day of this year’s Rock am Ring festival.

Johannes Kunz, chief of the Rhineland-Palatinate state police force, says the names of two Syrian nationals working at the festival were misspelt on the list of staff provided to police by promoter Marek Lieberberg Concert Agency (MLK).

At the time, authorities suspected an Islamist terror plot in the state of Hesse, and when the two men’s names could not be found on the list, the decision was made to evacuate the festival.

Rock am Ring organisers deal with ‘terrorism’ scare

“The names of the suspects were misspelt,” Kunz tells the Allgemeine Zeitung.

Roger Lewentz, Rhineland-Palatinate’s interior minister, says in future festivals should be forced to provide authorities with photographs of all staff “so a clear identification is possible”.

Festivals around the world have stepped up security in the aftermath of two years of terrorism, most recently at Manchester Arena in the UK. MLK announced shortly before Rock am Ring 2017 and sister festival Rock im Park that backpacks would be prohibited in the festival arena as a result of the “horrendous attack in Manchester”.

 


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