Authorities confirmed police are on the scene at Max Taut-Oberstufenzentrum school after an alarm was triggered just before 10am local time, according to reports. Unconfirmed reports claim there are fears children are “barricaded” in a classroom.
School children have been urged to “avoid windows and take cover”.
In a warning from the school, they were also ordered to “lock the doors and barricade yourself”.
An announcement at the school said: “To everyone in the school building please stay in the classrooms, lock the doors and barricade yourself.
“Then avoid windows and doors and take cover. The situation will be clarified.”
People on social media site Twitter said children were “afraid”, “crying” and talking has been banned.
A student posted on Twitter: “We are at school and have barricaded ourselves.”
Eighty police officers are on the scene and heavily armed officers are currently searching the premises.
Police Vice-President Marco Langner: “At the moment there is no information as to whether this is a case of someone running amok.”
The local fire brigade has also deployed 25 emergency services. They wrote on Twitter: “The situation is currently being investigated.”
A worried mother told the Berliner Morgenpost her daughter said students have been ordered to sit on the floor under the desks.
Another said: “My son also just wrote to me. The children have locked themselves in the rooms and do not know anything themselves.”
The citizens’ initiative ‘Moabit helps!’ posted on Twitter: “A client of ours at school. About 40 minutes ago, the students barricaded themselves inside the rooms.
“Talking is prohibited. Everyone is afraid. Some students are crying. Police can be seen on the roof and in front of the building, he says.”
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Additional reporting by Monika Pallenberg