Monday, September 16, 2024

Shots fired outside Israeli embassy on anniversary of Munich massacre

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Police shot a ‘suspicious person’ believed to be carrying a firearm outside an Israeli consulate closed for a commemoration of the Munich massacre.

The unidentified person was injured, according to police. Israel’s embassy described them as ‘neutralised’.

Video footage filmed from a nearby window shows people running away as numerous shots are fired.

Israel’s consulate was closed for a ceremony marking the murder of two Israeli Olympic athletes in the city by Palestinian militants in 1972.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said: ‘The protection of Jewish and Israeli institutions, as you know, is the highest priority.’

Munich police said: ‘Officers spotted a person who appeared to be carrying a firearm.

‘The emergency services used their service weapons and the person was hit and injured. There are currently no reports of further injuries.’

Police are not looking for any other suspects.

But they did urge people to avoid the area, also near a museum documenting Germany’s Nazi dictatorship, in the city’s Maxvorstadt neighbourhood.

‘A major operation is currently underway in the area of Briennerstrasse and Karolinenplatz’, police said on X.

‘We have numerous emergency personnel on site. Further information will follow on this channel.

‘Many emergency services are on their way to the site of operations in the area of the NS Documentation Center.

‘To ensure that they can work without hindrance, we ask that you avoid this area as much as possible.

‘The helicopter in the air is on the move in connection with the operation at the NS Documentation Center.

‘With this tool we get a better overview of the current situation from the air.’

No other injuries have been reported other than the ‘suspicious person’ shot by police (Picture: Simon Sachseder/dpa via AP)

Munich was the site of a terrorist attack on Israel’s Olympic team during the 1972 Olympics, the first time the games were hosted in Germany since 1936 under the Nazis.

That September 5, eight Palestinian militants from group called Black September infiltrated the Olympic Village disguised as athletes.

Wrestling coach Moshe Weinberg and weighlifter Yossef Romano were both shot dead while attempting to disarm the attackers.

Black September kidnapped nine others, holding them hostage in return for the release of 200 Palestinians from Israeli prisons, the release of two left-wing German militants, and an airplane to fly them to Cairo.

All hostages died in a botched rescue mission by West German police, also leaving five of the eight militants and one police officer dead.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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