Munich (dpa / lby) - Around 4800 police officers are to protect the Munich Security Conference from this Friday to Sunday. Among them are around 4,500 officials from Bavaria and other federal states as well as up to 300 federal police officers. The safety precautions around the conference venue in the Hotel Bayerischer Hof are stricter this year: the area of Promenadeplatz around the hotel may only be entered with accreditation. For the first time there should also be bag checks in the security area, as known from the Oktoberfest, the Munich police announced on Tuesday.
Another reason is the changed security situation. "We did include the Ukraine war in our considerations," said head of operations Michael Dibowski. There are no concrete indications of a threat, it remains an abstract situation. Last but not least, the G7 foreign ministers want to get together on the fringes of the meeting.
Once again, a no-fly zone applies within a radius of five kilometers around the Sendlinger Tor. Private drones are also not allowed to fly there, the head of operations emphasized. The zone extends from the Olympic Park to the Perlacher Forest and thus includes almost the entire city area.
According to Dibowski, a total of 19 rallies have been registered in connection with the security conference, the two largest on Saturday. As always, the opponents of the event have registered a demo. In addition, the organization "Munich stands up" wants to demonstrate; she had campaigned against various corona measures during the pandemic. So far, nothing is known about the actions of climate stickers, said Dibowski. But: "We are prepared accordingly."
The police called on Munich residents not to drive into the city by car. There will be traffic obstructions during the demonstrations, but also when guests arrive and depart.
The Munich Security Conference is considered the most important meeting of politicians and experts on security policy worldwide. Among others, US Vice President Kamala Harris, French President Emmanuel Macron and Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) are expected. According to the police, more than 45 heads of state and government as well as ministers from different departments want to travel.
