Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Germans not to be cowed by the threat of Islamist attacks, saying a concrete security threat had forced officials to cancel Tuesday’s soccer match against the Netherlands.

With security worries running high in Europe after Islamist shootings and bombings in Paris last Friday which killed at least 129 people, Ms Merkel gathered top ministers for a special meeting on the situation.

“I was just as sad as the millions of fans that the match was cancelled. But the security officials took a responsible decision,” Ms Merkel said in a brief statement.

“These are difficult decisions, perhaps the most difficult given the conflicting priorities of freedom and security. But yesterday it was right to decide based on security,” she said.

The state premier of Lower Saxony Stephan Weil said a firm indication about a “concrete danger” based on secret information had prompted the cancellation of the match, which Ms Merkel had been due to attend in state capital Hanover.

His Interior Minister Boris Pistorius said indications of a security threat had hardened up during Tuesday but he declined to confirm or deny media reports that a tip-off came from a foreign intelligence agency, possibly from France.

In the end, no arrests were made and no explosives found.

Mr Pistorius sought to reassure the public, saying the security situation in the Hanover area had stabilised and there was no sign that Christmas markets might be targets for an attack, something that is worrying many Germans.

Weil urged people to continue with their normal lives.

“I will certainly not retreat into my shell, neither in my position as office holder, nor as a private person unless I receive concrete recommendations by those who deal with these issues intensively,” he told reporters.