Police in the western German city of Essen said Tuesday they have arrested a man after receiving “indications of a possible attack scenario”.

Whether the man who is “known to police” was preparing an attack “is under investigation”, police said in a statement without providing details of the suspect’s identity.

 According to several media reports, the man is a 29-year-old who allegedly planned to attack a pro-Israel demonstration.

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said the country needs a strong government but not of “one party with brute majority”, and batted for a coalition rule.

Speaking at his party’s annual Dussehra rally at Shivaji Park in central Mumbai, he said when the “chair” (of ruler) is unstable, the country becomes strong.

Mr Thackeray, who is part of the Opposition’s INDIA bloc, advocated a “mili-juli sarkar’ (coalition government) which can take everyone along, and cited the examples of governments under Manmohan Singh, P V Narasimha Rao and Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

There was a time when Sena founder and his father late Bal Thackeray said that the country needed a strong government, Uddhav recalled.

“We have seen a strong government for nine years now. Have the issues of the people been resolved? “There should be a strong government, but not of any one party with a brute majority,” he added, targeting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), his friend-turned-foe.

The BJP or (its predecessor) Jana Sangh played no role in any struggle including that for the country’s freedom, Marathwada liberation struggle or the Samyukta (united) Maharashtra movement, the former chief minister claimed.

Attempts were being made to “steal” the Shiv Sena, he said, slamming the rival Sena led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

Warning his rivals, Mr Thackeray said, “After we come to power, we will hang upside down those who are harassing us.” Attacking the BJP, Mr Thackeray said his party’s Hindutva was nationalism.

Slamming the Shinde government over the lathi-charge at Maratha protestors in Jalna last month, Thackeray said the Marathas were agitating for quota even when he was chief minister, but he never gave such orders.

Who was the “General Dyer” who ordered lathi-charge in Jalna, he asked.

The issue of reservation for Maratha, Dhangar and other communities can only be resolved by the Centre and Parliament, Thackeray further said.

The BJP creates a rift and then acts as a protector, he alleged.

Slamming Maharashtra assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar over “delay” in disqualifying rebel MLAs of the Shiv Sena, Thackeray said the country was not just watching how the case unfolds. If the speaker did not heed the Supreme Court’s direction (to hear disqualification petitions expeditiously), the people would be watching if an apex court exists in the country or not, he said.

Mr Thackeray also dared the Shinde-led government to hold elections and let people decide whether the rebel MLAs were “qualified or disqualified”.

Seeking to counter the BJP’s attack on dynastic politics, Thackeray said he was proud of his family.

“…a doctor’s son becomes a doctor. We are preserving the legacy of our family… Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud is also preserving the legacy of his family,” he said.

“He (Chandrachud) has occupied the position because of his merit. His father (Y V Chandrachud) too was the chief justice of the country and he was very strict,” Mr Thackeray said.

On the other hand, there were some leaders who came from obscure families and rose to power, Mr Thackeray said, citing the examples of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Saddam Hussain, Vladimir Putin and Muammar Gaddafi.

Targeting the Maharashtra government over the Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train project, he asked who will benefit from it.

The high-speed train project was being executed “so that traitors can quickly flee to Gujarat,” he quipped, and alleged that attempts were being made to “loot Mumbai.” All good investments were being diverted from Maharashtra to Gujarat and other states, Mr Thackeray claimed.

The Pakistani team was playing cricket in India when Indian soldiers were being shot at on the India-Pakistan border, the Sena (UBT) chief said.

After the speeches were over, effigies of Ravan and a demon dubbed as “khokasur” were burnt.

The Thackeray-led Sena has often accused the MLAs of the Shinde group of taking `khokas’ (crores of rupees) to switch loyalties which led to the collapse of the Thackeray government in June last year.

Qatari mediators are urging Hamas to quicken the pace of hostage releases to include women and children held in Gaza and to do so without expecting Israeli concessions, according to three diplomats and a source in the region familiar with the talks, as Israel readies a ground assault on the enclave.

The Gulf state, in coordination with the US, is leading mediation talks with Hamas and Israeli officials over the release of more than 200 hostages captured in the Palestinian group’s cross-border onslaught on Oct 7.

Hamas on Monday freed two Israeli civilian women captives from the besieged enclave following the release of two hostages with dual US-Israeli nationality on Friday.

Qatar is now discussing a larger release of civilians with Hamas and Israel, a fifth source told Reuters on Tuesday after being briefed on the negotiations. The source said the talks were progressing.

The talks are not about any of the Israeli soldiers held by Hamas, the diplomats and regional source familiar with the talks said. Hamas says such captive soldiers are strategic assets the group can eventually exchange for major concessions from Israel.

In Washington, two US sources said that it was the US understanding that Qatar is pushing Hamas to release a large group of hostages immediately and without expecting any Israeli concessions in return.

Some 222 people aged from 9 months to 85 years were seized on Oct. 7 when Hamas went on a killing spree through southern Israel, shooting motorists, hunting down civilians including children in their own homes, and burning and stabbing people to death, according to survivors’ accounts. 

LOGISTICAL CHALLENGE

In response, Israel has launched a bombardment of Gaza that has killed more than 5,700 people, buried families in the rubble of their apartment blocks, maimed thousands and displaced a million people. It now plans a ground assault to destroy Hamas.

Among the arguments three of the sources say Qatar may be using in its contacts with Hamas is that releasing a large group of civilian hostages would ease a big logistical burden for the group as it navigates its confrontation with Israel.

Feeding and accommodating the captives, and tending to those who are wounded, are difficult for Hamas at a time when it is bracing for an Israeli assault and there is little food or medicine to spare for Gaza’s 2.3 million population, the diplomats and source said.

Keeping track of the captives, held by several groups in various locations, makes this task even more onerous, three of the sources said.

A source in the region familiar with the hostage negotiations said it appeared that Hamas had not anticipated taking so many hostages and had not made preparations for keeping so many individuals. Israeli officials have said many of the captives could be held in the warren of tunnels under Gaza.

When its fighters stormed into Israel on Oct 7, “Hamas did not expect the operation would be as catastrophically successful as it was. Now they have all these hostages and they don’t know what to do with them,” the source in the region added.

Qatar has also argued to Hamas that a large civilian release could reap diplomatic benefits by showing the group, seen as a terrorist organization by many Western countries, as sensitive to international humanitarian concerns over the captivity of children and other non-combatants, two of the sources said.

CAPTIVE SOLDIERS

A Hamas representative in Qatar did not respond to a request for comment. The Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to an email seeking comment.

In Jerusalem, an Israeli official said Hamas was using the hostage crisis for propaganda, trying to present itself as humane by releasing a handful of people they kidnapped. The official described this as “Nazi psychological warfare”.

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters on Monday that Washington wanted “to see all the hostages released. We want to see them released unconditionally, and we want to see them released as soon as possible.”

A release of civilians would still leave Hamas holding Israeli soldiers and security personnel. Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan said on Saturday the fate of Israeli army captives was related to a possible exchange of prisoners and in any case would not be discussed until Israel stopped attacking Gaza.

Qatar, which has ambitious foreign policy goals, has a direct line of communication with Hamas and Israel. It has previously helped mediate truces between the two.

A US priority is to allow more time for negotiations on the release of hostages. But time may be running short.

The US has advised Israel to hold off on a ground assault and is keeping Qatar apprised of that effort as the Gulf state seeks to mediate further hostage releases, two sources in Washington briefed on the hostage negotiations said on Monday.