The organising committee of the Oktoberfest has announced new security measures for the beer festival last week. As we have written on multiple occasions, following the July shooting at the OEZ shopping mall, the axe attack on a train in Wurzburg and the Ansbach bombing, Oktoberfest organisers have reviewed the security concept of the festival which begins on September 17.

On Friday, August 19, 2016 Munich’s abendzeitung-muenchen.de reported about members of the Bavarian capital’s City Council from the Green party airing their opinion that the new measures aren’t a guarantee that the Oktoberfest is going to be much safer (“100% safety can’t be guaranteed”), but argued that the decided upon security measures will cause the traditional beer festival to lose its open and folksy character.

The security measures announced include a ban on backpacks and larger bags (precisely bags with a volume of more than 3 litres), a mobile fence will be erected in the last unfenced part of the Theresienwiese festival grounds to ensure no one can avoid the security checks, as shown in below map. Additionally, visitors won’t be able to reach the Theresienwiese directly from the U-Bahn station of the same name. There will also be controls at all entrances.

6 million beer loving visitors are expected at the 183rd instalment of the traditional Bavarian beer festival in 2016. This year the Oktoberfest is set to take place at the Theresienwiese from Saturday, September 17 until Monday, October 3 (German Reunification Day).