US issues warning about Berlin concert

12 March 2004

BERLIN – The US Embassy in Berlin has warned its citizens against attending a concert Friday because of fears of “a possible act of violence.”

The embassy said Americans should avoid the area around one of Berlin’s major concert halls, the Tempodrom, where Turkish-Kurdish musician Ibrahim Tatlises was due to perform.

“US Mission Germany has received information from local authorities that an extremist group in Berlin may be planning an act of violence at the Ibrahim Tatlises concert to be held 12 March,” the embassy said in a statement.

A hand grenade exploded at a previous Tatlises performance in the northern German port city of Hamburg in February, injuring two people.

Authorities attributed the attack to anti-Kurdish reactionaries among Turkish immigrants in Germany.

Berlin police declined immediate comment on the security warning. Berlin media reported that the concert’s promoter as saying the building would be searched by police bomb-sniffing dogs before Tatlises take to the stage.

Subject: German news