Hamburg on Monday became the fourth city to call off a rally by a Turkish minister ahead of a referendum on expanding President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's powers. Police in the northern city of Hamburg said a venue where Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu had planned to speak on Tuesday could not be used "after serious fire safety deficiencies were identified". The other German authorities had cited capacity problems in hosting the events, which they said were likely to attract large crowds. "The hotels, the conference halls are being put under pressure, police are being sent to the owners of these places: it's systematic pressure, a manoeuvre aimed at erecting systematic barriers," he said. "Not the event was cancelled, but the use of the Plaza Event Center," a police spokesman told AFP.

Source: The Local March 07, 2017 08:00 UTC