After the Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna were cancelled due to an Islamist attack plan, the main suspect has confessed. According to security authorities, the 19-year-old wanted to kill a “large crowd”.
An arrested 19-year-old Islamist wanted to cause a bloodbath at a Taylor Swift concert in Austria. He wanted to operate with explosives and stabbing weapons in the area around the stadium. The crucial clue to the plans came from international secret services.
“The situation was serious”
“The situation was serious, the situation is serious. But we can also say that a tragedy was prevented,” said Austria's Interior Minister Gerhard Karner.
The 19-year-old Austrian with North Macedonian roots said in his extensive confession that he had intended to “kill himself and a large crowd either today or tomorrow,” said Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, head of the State Protection and Intelligence Directorate in the Federal Ministry of the Interior. He was part of an Islamist network that was known to the police. He had found out about bomb-making online. He was arrested in Ternitz, a municipality about 80 kilometers south of Vienna.
“His plan was to kill people outside the stadium,” said intelligence chief Haijawi-Pirchner. He and a second arrested suspect did not have tickets. The crime was planned for Thursday or Friday evening. The two men were arrested on Wednesday, however, and the organizer then canceled all Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna.
IS-related material found
The second suspect was arrested by special police forces not far from the Ernst Happel Arena, where Swift was scheduled to perform this Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Just a few days ago, the 17-year-old Austrian with Turkish-Croatian roots was hired by a company that wanted to offer services during the planned concerts, investigators said. In the youth's apartment, they found extensive material relating to IS and the terrorist network Al-Qaeda. Interior Minister Karner said that no other people were being sought besides the two suspects.
The arrests have minimized the concrete threat situation. However, an abstract threat with an increased risk of terrorism still exists. Austria raised the terror alert level to the second highest level, four, following the attacks by the Islamist terrorist organization Hamas on Israel on October 7.
Fans of Taylor Swift in Vienna
170,000 fans expected
The Ernst Happel Stadium has around 51,000 seats and was sold out for the planned Swift concerts. According to a report by the APA news agency, an estimated total of 170,000 fans were expected, and thousands without tickets wanted to at least make the pilgrimage to the arena to be close to their idol. Many fans even came from abroad and in some cases spent thousands of euros on travel and hotel costs.
Concert promoter Barracuda Music wrote on Instagram on Wednesday evening that it had no choice but to cancel the three planned shows. Paid tickets would be refunded.
Austria's Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler showed understanding for the frustration of many fans and wrote on the online platform X on Wednesday evening: “For many, a dream has been shattered today. Tens of thousands of Swifties should have celebrated life together in Vienna over three evenings. I am very sorry that you are denied this. Swifties stick together, hate and terror cannot destroy that.”
