In this AM's news....the town o Overath (NW Germany, 27k residents) cancelled the city Christmas fest.
What it came down to....the law currently in place says that the city gov't itself...must cover security costs, and the town basically said....the cost was too much of a burden.
To cover the spring fest....the local private fest 'club' pulled out the Euro from their pockets, but admitted that took most all of the cash flow they had. They figured the city would step up and cover costs.....they were wrong.
Yeah, it was the first such cancellation, and I kinda expect more to occur.
Most all towns have a city 'square'....mostly designed for market operations....once or twice a week. Oddly enough....none of these market-days show extra protection (I can vouch for twenty-odd cities where I've been in their local market (here in Hessen, and the Pfalz).
What cities mostly do for terror-protection? Most have gone to concrete 'blocks' (the size of four mini-refrigerators) to block the square, with one security guard at each point who could untie the blocks if fire-trucks needed to enter. So a town the size of Wiesbaden....would have five 'points'. On top of that....you'd have extra cops on duty and dispatched....probably six to eight roaming in 2-to-3 man-patrols.
I have no idea of the cost level....but would assume....for a small square with two entry-points, with guards/security....for four weeks...you'd have talk about 40k Euro minimum.
This Christmas terror thing? This started in Berlin in 2016....with 16 deaths. Prior to that...other than roaming police, no one had a necessity to worry about dying in the middle of a Christmas market.
A politically charged thing for AfD now? Well...yeah, I would imagine locally in Overath now....the AfD will talk alot about this, and hype the threat to society. For some mayors and city councils....they might have leaned toward refusing to pay for the extra security, and now realize that more votes locally...will shift toward AfD, if they cancel their fest.
Yeah, it will be a topic of conversation for the week.
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