German city halls evacuated after bomb threats: police

Several city halls in Germany were evacuated on Tuesday over emails threatening bomb attacks, police said.

Police confirmed that the city halls in Chemnitz, Augsburg, Kaiserslautern, Goettingen, Neunkirchen and Rendsburg had been affected.

Officers combed the areas surrounding the concerned buildings for suspicious items and hours later authorities in each of the cities gave the all-clear.

The sender of the threats remains unidentified.

The evacuation also impacted traffic in some places, including in Goettingen where public transport was diverted around the city hall.

Likewise in Augsburg some tram and bus services were halted.

The latest scare came after more than 100 threatening emails were apparently sent by far-right sympathisers to lawyers, politicians, journalists and even a pop star.

Some of the emails contained bomb and other death threats, or boasted of being in possession of guns and biological weapons, media reported.

Berlin prosecutors, who are coordinating the national investigation, said it had received reports of more than 100 threats. In no cases were bombs found.