Austrian authorities have released additional information regarding two suspects’ planned terror plot targeting Taylor Swift’s concerts in the country’s capital city.
The three-day Vienna portion of the singer’s European leg of her Eras Tour was canceled Wednesday due to a “planned terrorist attack,” Barracuda Music, the event organizer for Swift’s Austria shows, shared in a social media post. Swift’s three Vienna concerts, originally scheduled for Aug. 8, 9 and 10, were “expected to draw more than 200,000 fans from across the world,” according to The New York Times.
Details of the foiled terror attack
In a news conference, Vienna State Police Director Franz Ruf announced the arrests of two suspects, who had “radicalized themselves on the internet,” according to police. Ruf stated that the main suspect, a 19-year-old Austrian citizen, had sworn allegiance in early July to the current leader of the Islamic State.
Swift was originally slated to perform at the Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna, the largest stadium in Austria. Authorities said that one of the two suspects has confessed to the foiled plot, who stated the plan was to “kill as many people as possible outside the concert venue,” The Associated Press reported.
During their investigation, Austrian police found “explosives, timers, machetes and knives” in the home of the 19-year-old suspect, per The New York Times. Ruf stated that the second suspect, a 17-year-old who was arrested at the stadium on Wednesday for being a possible accomplice in the plot, “was known to the police and had recently started a job for an events service provider that was working at the Ernst Happel Stadium, where Ms. Swift was scheduled to perform,” the Times reports. Ruf said that police also questioned a 15-year-old who corroborated information included in the main suspect’s confession, but “the police believe the boy was not an active participant in the plot but knew of its details,” according to the Times.
Local Austrian media reported that the 19-year-old suspect stole chemicals from his former workplace to use in the attack, per BBC News, and that “he had planned to drive a car into the crowd expected to gather outside the stadium.”
‘Swifties’ rally in Vienna’s streets
Victoria Kennedy, the U.S. Ambassador to Austria, sympathized with Swift’s fans, widely known as “Swifties,” in a post on the social media network X. “I feel your heartbreak about the cancellations. I’m sure it was a very tough decision, but safety is paramount. We appreciate the hard work of the Austrian authorities. Continue to shimmer while staying safe and sound. We won’t let hatred win,” Kennedy wrote.
Karl Nehammer, Austrian chancellor, commented on the situation in a post on X, saying, “The cancellation of the Taylor Swift concerts by the organizers is a bitter disappointment for all fans in Austria.” Nehammer said that the planned attack was “very serious,” and he thanked Austrian police and intelligence, including foreign services, for their “intensive cooperation.”
“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,” Nehammer wrote.
Despite the cancellations, Swift’s fans have taken to Vienna’s streets to celebrate the singer. In photos and videos posted to social media, large crowds of “Swifties” could be seen gathered together, adorned in Swift-themed merchandise, singing and exchanging friendship bracelets.
Vienna’s Lutherische Stadtkirche Wien, or the Lutheran City Church, “offered fans a place to stay and listen to Swift’s music on Thursday,” Forbes reported, providing a spot for “Swifties” to sit in the church’s pews and enjoy the singer’s music.
The terror plot planned for Swift’s Vienna concerts comes shortly after a fatal assault in Southport, England, where three children died after a stabbing attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on July 29. “Eight children and two adults were also seriously injured,” according to BBC News, and one child is still in the hospital.
Following the three canceled Vienna shows, Swift’s next — and last — five concerts in her European tour leg before heading to Canada will be located at Wembley Stadium in London, England. “As of Thursday morning U.K. local time, the shows had not been canceled,” per Variety, but the stadium is “beefing up security measures.”
