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Taylor Swift’s Austria Stadium Threats ‘Very Serious,’ Islamic State Involved, Mayor Says
MUNICH, GERMANY – Taylor Swift‘s three concerts at Ernst Happel Stadion in Vienna, Austria, scheduled Aug. 8-10, got cancelled after local authorities arrested two individuals suspected of planning a terrorist attack.
See: Three Taylor Swift Shows In Vienna Canceled Over Terror Attack Fears
The statement put out by local promoter Barracuda Music yesterday reads: “Due to government officials’ confirmation of a planned terrorist attack at Ernst Happel Stadium, we have no choice but to cancel the three scheduled shows for everyone’s safety.”
Vienna’s mayor Karl Nehammer wrote in an X post, that the threat had been “very serious,” and that the intensive cooperation between police, the country’s intelligence services (Direktion Staatsschutz und Nachrichtendienst, DSN), and foreign intelligence services made it possible to recognized the threat early, and combat it to prevent a tragedy.
Three individuals – one 19-year old, and two 17-year olds – had been arrested by Wednesday evening, Aug. 7, according to news reports.
The 19-year-old suspect, who lived in Austria, and has roots in North Macedonian, has reportedly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. Oe24.at quotes a high-ranking security official as saying, “They wanted to cause a bloodbath.” The suspect reportedly built an explosive device with chemicals obtained from the company he worked for, “and presumably wanted to blow himself up in front of the Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna. This is also indicated by the oath of allegiance to IS [Islamic State], which the 19-year-old had made, and which would point to a suicide attack,” according to the oe24.at report.
According to The New York Times, “Western counterterrorism officials said suspicion on the organization behind the plot immediately fell on the Islamic State’s Khorasan Province, or ISIS-K. The group is based in Afghanistan, but in the past year alone, it has been involved in assaults in Russia, Iran and Turkey, as well as foiled plots in Europe.”
In chats intercepted by the authorities, the perpetrators reportedly also discussed driving a car into the crowd, or carrying out a knife attack. The oe24.at report states that it had been the U.S. Secret Service that had initially intercepted these messages, before tipping off the Austrian security authorities, however, not many news reports confirm this – which could simply be down to the highly classified nature of anything said in an intelligence environment, according to Mike Downing, chief security officer with Oak View Group’s Prevent Advisors.
Downing explained, “What the public needs to know and understand is that obviously this was disrupted before it occurred, which is a good thing. And we need to continue to be vigilant against these threats, not to be over-anxious or paranoid about it, but learn how we can all participate in preventing these things from happening because everybody has a role. It’s not just law enforcement. It’s not just intelligence agencies, but it’s communities, it’s management, it’s artists, it’s fans. It’s everybody put together. That’s the best way that we can defend against this and not be paralyzed in fear, but know what to do, how to report, and how to act.”
In his post, Vienna’s mayor Nehammer wrote, “We live in a time in which violent means are being used to attack our Western way of life. Islamist terrorism threatens security and freedom in many Western countries. This is precisely why we will not give up our values such as freedom and democracy, but will defend them even more vehemently. These values are the foundation of our society and make us resilient against extremism and terrorism. It is important to remain vigilant, stand together and take decisive action against [Islamic state fanaticism].”
It’s not the first IS inspired attack on live entertainment on European soil. In 2015, attackers of the Bataclan in France killed 130 people, reportedly pledging their allegiance to IS; in May 2017, an attack on Manchester Arena in England, perpetrated by Islamic extremists, killed 22; that same year, Germany’s Rock am Ring festival was temporarily suspended after local police found that at least one individual tied to terrorism had access to secure areas at the event. Thankfully, nothing further happened; earlier this year, assailants started firing at the crowd inside a large concert hall in Moscow, Russia, killing at least 100 people, with the Islamic State group claiming responsibility for the attack.
After this most recent threat in Vienna, Austria, the European venues association EVVC reacted with a statement, highlighting that ensuring the safety of all visitors and employees was central concern for all arenas, halls, and stadiums united under the EVVC banner – which is why event venues in Central Europe have been investing in efficient safety technology and concepts for a long time.
In addition to such measures, cooperation with regional and national authorities was essential. This included paving the way for new security technologies, according to EVVC managing director René Tumler, who said, “We now have the option of using cameras in conjunction with artificial intelligence in event venues. In order to be able to use modern technologies like these in the future, we need a legal basis and support from politicians.”
Additionally, EVVC called for targeted, low-threshold training for event security, and Tumler criticized the German government’s planned Security Industry Act as a step in the wrong direction. “Security activities at an event must be clearly defined and clearly differentiated from other services, such as ticket control. The current draft law remains too unclear in this regard,” he said, “we also consider it more expedient to develop security concepts according to the type of event and not the number of participants.”
Commenting on the security situation in Europe in particular, Downing said, “I think we’re in a time of uncertainty right now. You see what’s going on in the UK, there’s a lot of unresolved grievances that are kind of bubbling up, but that doesn’t mean we should stop what we do. I think live entertainment and sports business is the one unifying factor that brings us all together, that creates joy, that gives us hope that we can live in a peaceful world. So I think we just have to find good, safe ways to continue to do that.”
And touching on the U.S., he added, “I think that our defensive team, the military, our defensive agencies do a really good job of stopping foreign threats from landing here, but what we do have to worry about is, the lone wolf, the individuals, the inspired by, the aspirational adversaries and who they may be associated with and so we can’t just look right. We can’t just look left. We have to kind of have this 360-degree view of threats from all sides and to do that we have to take our bias out of it and learn how to make critical decisions based on data, based on fact, based on truth and have good sources to do that.”
The promoters of the Taylor Swift Eras Tour in Vienna, AEG Presents, and Barracuda Music, weren’t available for comment.
The Viennese concerts by Taylor Swift would have marked the end of the mainland European run of “Eras.” She’s now headed to the UK, where she’ll perform another five nights at the iconic Wembley Stadium, after having already performed there three times in June.
All eight nights are sold out, “making her the biggest-selling female artist to ever perform at Wembley Stadium,” according to a press release from London, which adds that “her eight-night run will also set a new record for the longest residency of a solo artist at Wembley Stadium.”
Additional reporting by Sarah Pittman