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Police forces block a street in Hagen.
Photo: Kai-Uwe Hagemann / dpa
Because of a possible danger situation, numerous police officers are on duty at a synagogue in Hagen in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The Dortmund police announced on Wednesday evening.
»Police protective measures have been adapted accordingly.
We are in close contact with the Jewish community, ”it said.
A police spokesman said at the request of the dpa news agency that there were emergency services on site.
There were no people in the synagogue.
For tactical reasons, however, further details should not be given.
On Wednesday and Thursday Jews celebrate their highest holiday, Yom Kippur, the day of atonement.
Then the period of commemoration and penance ends since the Jewish New Year at the beginning of September.
The events in Hagen brought back memories of the terrorist attack in Halle in Saxony-Anhalt.
On Yom Kippur 2019 - October 9th - an armed right-wing extremist tried to forcefully break into the synagogue.
When the door held out, he shot two people nearby and injured two others while trying to escape.
Hagen's Mayor Erik Schulz assured the Jewish community of his solidarity in the face of the threat.
"As little as we know about the exact situation - our thoughts are with the Jewish community in Hagen," he told the "Westfalenpost".
Schulz set out after an external appointment to get an idea of the operation on site.
The building was empty and there was no acute threat to people
The photos showed helmeted police officers with submachine guns.
The mission has been running since the early evening.
According to a report by the "Westfalenpost", a hundred has arrived.
The area around the synagogue in the city center was therefore cordoned off over a large area.
According to the "Westfalenpost", the police patrol in front of the synagogue and in the vicinity of the church.
A police spokesman said the building was empty, so there was no acute danger to people.
The operational situation was "static", it was said in the late evening.
The police took off their helmets.
North Rhine-Westphalia's Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) was informed about the police operation.
"The minister is fully informed about the possible threat," said a spokesman on Wednesday evening.
The Jewish community in Hagen is small.
According to the Central Welfare Office for Jews in Germany, it had 264 members in 2020.
Anti-Semitic history
After the Middle East conflict escalated in May, there were anti-Semitic riots in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Thereupon there was a special meeting in the interior committee of the state parliament, in it was also a corresponding incident from Hagen on May 12th.
In the city with just under 190,000 inhabitants, an Israeli flag was hoisted in front of the town hall at the request of the German-Israeli Society to commemorate the establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and Germany on May 12, 1965.
The city quickly caught up with this flag.
The reason: The raising of this flag ensured "that there is unrest and anger in the Muslim community" and that problems could arise.
That said, according to the minutes of the committee meeting, the Minister of the Interior of North Rhine-Westphalia, Herbert Reul.
After the flag was hung, "various chairmen of the largest Muslim communities" reported to the contact officer for the city's Muslim institutions.
According to them, images of the Israeli flag on the city hall were shared in the city's Muslim community.
"You reported that the community was upset about it; I'll say it a little cautiously."
The city was then informed by the police.
The city then decided to take the flag down, said the interior minister.
nek / dpa / AFP