Thursday 27, April
Police swarm Berlin’s ICC after caller reports gunmen
On Wednesday morning, an emergency call led to a large-scale police operation at the International Congress Centre (ICC).
The police operation interrupted a rehearsal of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
The area around the ICC, which hosts more than a hundred international events every year, was largely closed off when a caller reported seeing two suspicious people with guns, triggering a massive police operation.
The call came in at around 9:00 in the morning but after searching the enormous building and surrounding area for more than hour, police and special units didn’t manage to find any weapons or evidence of danger – giving ICC staff the all-clear at around 11:00.
The ICC is Europe’s largest congress centre and the police operation interrupted a rehearsal of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (DSO) which was scheduled for 10:00. Some musicians were already in the building, but the entire process was reportedly relatively calm. The ICC, which opened in 1979, was briefly in 2014 closed in order to remove asbestos contamination. It is one of west Berlin’s most iconic buildings.
