Alleged Terror Plot Sparks Cancellation Of Taylor Swift Concerts In Austria

Three huge concerts by superstar pop singer Taylor Swift have been cancelled in Vienna after authorities on Wednesday announced they'd arrested two men alleged to have been plotting a terrorist attack. Three more suspects are reportedly at large. 

“Both [arrested] suspects had become radicalized on the internet and had taken concrete preparatory actions for a terrorist attack,” said Austria's interior department in a press release. As is so frequently the case in Europe, details on the suspects -- and especially their demographics -- are scarce at this point. Officials did say that one suspect is a 19-year-old Austrian citizen who'd recently made an online pledge of allegiance to the Islamic State terror group. 

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"During our investigations, we identified preparatory actions and noted that the 19 year-old suspect had a particular focus on the Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna," said Austrian director general for public security Franz Ruf at a press conference. He added that police who raided the man's home in Ternitz -- about 80 miles south of Vienna -- found chemical substances, though it's not clear what they were or if they were to be used in an attack. 

While the suspected plot against Swift has been neutralized, local media reports that three more men are wanted by police, who remain on an elevated state of alert. “The concrete threat, as you’ve heard, has been minimized, but there remains an abstract increased threat,” said Vienna State Police president Gerhard Pürstl. 

“The Taylor Swift concert plot fits ISIS-K’s modus operandi perfectly,” Colin Clarke, a counterterrorism analyst at the Soufan Group told the New York Times. “A high-profile soft target which, if successfully attacked, would result in massive civilian casualties while generating worldwide publicity.” As an example, he pointed to the 2017 bombing of an Arianda Grande concert in England that killed 22 attendees. 

The first of three concerts was scheduled for Thursday night. Together, the trio of event was expected to see almost 200,000 fans pack into Ernst Happel Stadium, which is also used for major outdoor sporting events and previously hosted the Rolling Stones. Each night, they expected 65,000 people inside the stadium and another 15,000 hanging around outside it. 

 “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,” said Austrian concert promoter Barracuda Music in an Instagram post. The firm assured that tickets would be automatically refunded within 10 business days. Fans -- throngs of whom had already begun gathering around the stadium to socialize and buy souvenirs and swag -- were crushed. 

News of the alleged terror plot in Austria comes little more than a week after a children's dance workshop centered on Swift's music was attacked in England, with a knife-wielding 17-year-old of Rwandan descent murdering three children and injuring nine more. 

"These were just little kids at a dance class," Swift wrote on Instagram. "I am at a complete loss for how to ever convey my sympathies to these families." In the aftermath of the attack, England has witnessed huge riots, with violence alternatingly unleashed by people fed up with mass, third-world immigration, and by immigrants themselves.  

In July, Austria's Interior Ministry announced new requirements to be imposed on asylum seekers throughout the country. As EuroNews explained, the program is meant to "strengthen the integration of refugees and provide them with a clear grounding in Austrian values and social mores." 

The "catalogue of requirements" includes mandatory charitable work for the government, or nursing service or homeless shelters. At the same time, a "benefits card" is being tested, to facilitate giving the migrants spending money. “If you don’t do any charitable work, your pocket money will be reduced from €40 to €20," Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said. "That is one of the clear consequences." Migrants will also have to "receive information about Austrian culture, values and social etiquette, as well as equality, democracy and anti-Semitism," reports EuroNews.

Karner claimed in July that more restrictive immigration policies are helping to ease pressure on Austrian society -- but Wednesday's news of a suspected terror plot seems to show there are still alarming implications. While rioting probably isn't in the cards in Austria, we can imagine that the cancellation of the highly-anticipated Swift concerts in Vienna might sour some local "Swifties" on the whole "diversity is our strength" mantra.