Police in the western German city of Mannheim have asked the public to stay away from the downtown area and keep inside their homes.
Police would not disclose what prompted the large law enforcement presence in the city centre.
Several people were seen lying on the ground after a car allegedly drove into a crowd, with two people apparently being resuscitated, an eyewitness told Reuters on Monday.
Mannheim has a population of roughly 326,000 people and is located about 85 kilometres south of Frankfurt.
A spokesperson for police, Stefan Wilhelm, told N-TV television an “incident” occurred at around 12:15 p.m. in the Paradeplatz area of downtown Mannheim that triggered a large police deployment. He said he couldn’t give details.
Authorities pushed an alert on the Katwarn app telling people in Mannheim to avoid the city’s downtown area due to a big police deployment.
Katwarn is used by officials to communicate information about major emergencies such as thunderstorms, militant attacks or fires.
More to come.
