Further details were announced about the Arrested on August 7 a 19-year-old Austrian with North Macedonian roots and a 17-year-old Austrian with Turkish and Croatian roots. The two were arrested in connection with a planned terrorist attack on one of three Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadium. The concerts were scheduled to take place from August 8th to 10th and were expected to have a total of 170,000 visitors at all three shows. The authorities canceled all three concerts as a precautionary measure.
Karl Nehammer, Federal Chancellor of the Republic of Austria, specified on Twitter:
The cancellation of the Taylor Swift concerts by the organizers is a bitter disappointment for all fans in Austria. The situation surrounding the apparently planned terrorist attack in Vienna was very solemn. Thanks to the intensive cooperation of our police and the newly established DSN…
— Karl Nehammer (@karlnehammer) 7 August 2024
It read (translated):
The cancellation of the Taylor Swift concerts by the organizers is a bitter disappointment for all fans in Austria. The situation surrounding the apparently planned terrorist attack in Vienna was very solemn. Thanks to the intensive cooperation of our police and the newly established DSN with foreign services, the threat was recognized early, combated and a tragedy prevented. Many thanks to the emergency services who are currently investigating at full speed. We live in a time in which our western way of life is being attacked by violent means. 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. We must remain vigilant, stand together and take decisive action against Islamism.
Nehammer explained in a subsequent X-Thread:
We live in a time in which there are forces that want to employ terrorist means to combat our joy of life and our freedom. I can understand that many who have been looking forward to these concerts for a long time are now unhappy. But safety comes first and a tragedy was prevented.
The suspects had very specific and detailed plans to bring about a tragedy like in Paris, Manchester or Moscow. The main perpetrator confessed that he and two accomplices wanted to carry out a suicide attack. He had procured explosives and weapons. It is unimaginable what devastating consequences this would have had. There would have been numerous deaths and injuries.
My special thanks go to the secret services, authorities and emergency services who are currently working tough to investigate and arrest the accused.
We will not give up our values ​​such as freedom and democracy, but will defend them even more resolutely. These values ​​are the foundation of our society and make us resilient against extremism and terrorism. We must remain vigilant, stand together and take decisive action against Islamism.
According to the Fox report linked above, Austrian law enforcement authorities have provided an update on further findings following the arrests:
One of the suspects arrested in connection with an alleged attack on the now-canceled Taylor Swift concerts in Austria this week had chemical substances and technical equipment in his house, authorities said.
The perpetrator, a 19-year-old Austrian with North Macedonian roots, was “clearly radicalized towards the Islamic State and believes it is right to kill infidels,” said Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, head of the Directorate for State Security and Intelligence, on Thursday. The suspect quit his job on July 25 and declared “that he still has big plans.”
Haijawi-Pirchner continued, recounting what the 19-year-old suspect said during a full confession:
He wanted to carry out an attack outside the stadium and kill as many people as possible with the knives or explosives he had made.
The report continued:
The 19-year-old downloaded manuals on bomb-making and investigators found homemade explosives, detonators and hydrogen peroxide in his apartment in Ternitz, south of Vienna, NBC News quoted Haijawi-Pirchner as saying.
The foiled attack followed shortly after the unrest that has rocked England since the mass murder of girls at a Taylor Swift dance party on July 29 by the teenage son of Rwandan immigrants. Ironically, Swift’s concerts, scheduled for August 15-20, 2024 in the UK, will go ahead as planned. London is the final stop on the European leg of Swift’s tour.
As Chancellor Nehammer noted, the planned attack unfortunately follows successful attacks against concerts in Europe in recent years. In November 2015, as part of a series of terrorist attacks in and around Paris, Islamist extremists attacked the Bataclan theater in Paris during an Eagles of Death Metal concert, murdering 91 people and injuring over 200. In May 2017, a suicide bombing after an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, killed 22 people and injured over 1,000. In March 2024, Islamist terrorists attacked a concert hall in a Moscow suburb, killing 145 people and injuring over 550, with another 95 reported as “missing.”
While it’s tempting to joke that Austria saved itself the expense of a trial by throwing the two suspects into a room full of Swifties and screaming that they were responsible for you not being able to see the concert, the sobering truth is that this should show even the whiniest liberal wine mother-in-training that there is evil in the world… and it’s not Republicans. There are people who hate you so much that they plan to kill you because of your favorite singer. No one can just shake that off. Satan is alive and living in the hearts of people who are willing to die in the name of their false god.
