BREAKING: Taylor Swift Concerts in Vienna CANCELLED After Alleged Terror Threat
Law enforcement in Austria recently arrested two suspected extremists one of whom authorities believe was planning an attack in an area with upcoming Taylor Swift concerts — and all three of her Vienna Eras Tour shows have now been cancelled.
According to the Associated Press, a 19-year-old suspect was arrested in south Vienna on Wednesday while a suspected accomplice was grabbed by police in the Austrian capital. Authorities revealed that the detained 19-year-old had pledged an oath of allegiance to the Islamic State militant group, also known as ISIS.
The Austrian citizen was radicalized via the internet, according to police. Investigators are reportedly evaluating chemical substances found on the suspect. An Austrian interior minister noted that authorities believe the suspect was in the “preparatory actions” of a potential attack.
Swift is scheduled to perform at Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadium throughout the week as part of her Eras tour.
Per CNN national security analyst Juliette Kayyem:
What we do know now is there’s at least — the main suspect is a 19 year old Austrian citizen. He was stopped south of the Capitol, where the, from where the concert is going to be.
He was apparently in what we call, preparatory, sorry, preparatory mode, which is essentially he was putting things together, to try to do attack. Now, we don’t know the nature of whether the chemicals or explosives would have worked. We don’t know how sophisticated he was, but it was enough to to cause this arrest and to have this alert. He apparently has an accomplice, and was radicalized relatively recently online. So we are likely to find in the days ahead. He is someone who was online and decides that this is a high profile event. They don’t get higher profile than Taylor Swift…His access, his capabilities, and the explosives that he had are still unknown.
Moments ago, CNN reported that all three of the Swift concerts scheduled for Vienna “have been cancelled” due to this threat.
Barracuda Music, the promoter for Swift’s concerts in Austria, issued a statement following the news, “Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour Vienna Shows cancelled due to government officials confirmation of planned terrorist attack. With confirmation from government officials of a planned terrorist attack at Ernst Happel Stadium, we have no choice but to cancel the three scheduled shows for everyone’s safety.”
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This is a breaking story and may be updated.
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