Germany: Thousands evacuated over theme park bomb threat

Police say a bomb threat that forced the evacuation of a theme park in western Germany was a false alarm. A Halloween-themed event attended by thousands of people was disrupted.

An amusement park near the German city of Bottrop was evacuated on Friday evening due to an alleged bomb threat.

Some 11,000 people had to leave the Movie Park Germany premises, located in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, following what turned out to be a false alarm.

Movie Park is a seasonal amusement park that centers on famous films.

Halloween event disturbed

On Friday, the park was celebrating a multi-day Halloween special, which included horror movie screenings, haunted houses, music entertainment, rides and a children's Halloween section.

At 5:15 p.m. local time (1515 UTC), the park received a call from an unknown individual warning about a bomb.

Police arrived at the scene and after clearing several of the rides, eventually had to empty out the entire park.

Authorities said visitors exited the premises calmly and without incident. They've now launched an investigation.

In a post on its Facebook page, Movie Park said the safety of its customers was a top priority and thanked them for heeding the evacuation warning, adding that they could still use their tickets on any of the remaining days.

Private dispute?

Authorities said that the bomb call almost certainly followed a dispute between visitors, and was meant to spoil the festivities.

Police did not provide too many details on the caller.

The park said it would open as usual on Saturday and that its Halloween-themed activities would continue as usual.