17 schools stay closed in Germany's Duisburg over far-right threats

More than a dozen schools remained closed in the western German city of Duisburg on Monday after receiving far-right threats.

A total of 17 secondary schools were shut, with some 17,980 pupils affected, a spokeswoman for the district administration told dpa.

Signs saying "school closed" had been put up at several of the affected institutions on Monday morning, according to a dpa reporter at the scene.

It comes after the school administration of the Gesamtschule Duisburg-Mitte school received a note on Friday containing "threatening and right-wing extremist statements," according to police.

The sender, whose identity remains unknown, had threatened to commit criminal acts at the school on Monday, it said.

The school then received another note on Sunday, again containing threats - this time against other schools in the area as well, police said.

However, police said Duisburg's state security service assumes the threats to be a hoax.

Regardless, affected schools switched to distance learning on Monday as a precautionary measure.

Schools were due to reopen on Tuesday, pending further developments, the spokeswoman for the district administration told dpa later on Monday.