Suspicious Parcel Prompts Evacuation of Christmas Market in Potsdam, Germany<br />1, 2017<br />BERLIN — Officials evacuated a Christmas market in Potsdam on Friday evening after a suspicious package was found nearby, reviving fears<br />that the country’s popular holiday tradition remained vulnerable despite increased security after a terror attack on a market in Berlin last year.<br />No injuries were reported, and the top security official for the state of Brandenburg, Interior Minister Karl-Heinz Schröter, said authorities were still trying to determine whether the package could have detonated,<br />and whether it was intended for the pharmacy or the market.<br />The scare recalled memories of the Dec. 19 attack on a Christmas market in western Berlin, in which a Tunisian man hijacked a truck<br />and drove it into the stands, killing 12 people and injuring dozens of others.<br />As a result of that attack, for which the Islamic State claimed responsibility, the authorities increased security at Christmas markets this season.<br />Authorities said that they had no indication of terrorism or any other motive,<br />but parts of the market and the surrounding streets remained sealed off on Friday night as they continued their investigation.<br />A small package with wires sticking out was delivered to a pharmacy across the<br />street from the market on Friday afternoon, the local news media reported.<br />They are surrounded with concrete barriers, and more officers are patrolling among the stands, which sell handicrafts, sweets and small gifts.
