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Iraqi Teen Detained in Vienna after Taylor Swift Concert Attack Plot Foiled

A police vehicle patrols as fans of the singer Taylor Swift gather following the cancellation of three Taylor Swift concerts at Happel stadium after the government confirmed a planned attack at the venue, in Vienna, Austria August 8, 2024. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl
A police vehicle patrols as fans of the singer Taylor Swift gather following the cancellation of three Taylor Swift concerts at Happel stadium after the government confirmed a planned attack at the venue, in Vienna, Austria August 8, 2024. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl
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Iraqi Teen Detained in Vienna after Taylor Swift Concert Attack Plot Foiled

A police vehicle patrols as fans of the singer Taylor Swift gather following the cancellation of three Taylor Swift concerts at Happel stadium after the government confirmed a planned attack at the venue, in Vienna, Austria August 8, 2024. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl
A police vehicle patrols as fans of the singer Taylor Swift gather following the cancellation of three Taylor Swift concerts at Happel stadium after the government confirmed a planned attack at the venue, in Vienna, Austria August 8, 2024. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl

An 18-year-old Iraqi national was detained in Vienna in connection with investigations into an alleged plot to strike a Taylor Swift concert in the Austrian capital, the interior ministry said on Friday.

The Iraqi national is said to have come from the same circle as the main suspect, a 19-year-old Austrian with North Macedonian roots, according to the ministry.

The main suspect, who had vowed loyalty to ISIS, was planning a lethal assault among the estimated 20,000 "Swiftie" fans set to gather outside Vienna's Ernst Happel Stadium.

Two other Austrian youths aged 17 and 15 were detained on Wednesday over the reported plot.
The 15-year-old has meanwhile been released and is being treated as a witness, the Kurier newspaper reported on Friday.

The Iraqi suspect is reported to have sworn allegiance to ISIS on Aug. 6, but it remains unclear whether he had anything to do with the planned attack, the newspaper reported.

Three sold-out concerts in Vienna, part of Swift's Eras Tours show, were canceled by organizers after officials announced the arrests over an apparent plot to attack her shows, saying they appeared to be inspired by ISIS and al-Qaeda.

The foiled attack was planned for Thursday or Friday, according to Austria’s interior minister, Gerhard Karner.

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer defended the decision to cancel the concerts, saying the arrests of the suspects took place too close to the shows, scheduled for Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

“I understand very well that those who wanted to experience the concert live are very sad,” Nehammer told a news conference Thursday. “Moms and dads are looking after their daughters and sons, who were full of enthusiasm and anticipation for this concert. But it’s also important that in such serious moments as now, it’s inevitable that safety comes first.”

Officials said one of the two confessed to planning to “kill as many people as possible outside the concert venue.”

Swift is also scheduled to perform at London’s Wembley stadium in five concerts between Aug. 15 and 20 to close the European leg of her record-setting Eras Tour.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said that while he understood Vienna’s reasons for canceling, “We’re going to carry on.” Khan said the capital’s authorities were prepared for shows there following lessons learned from a 2017 attack at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, that killed 22 people.

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Britain is on Alert for Further Unrest Even after Anti-Racism Campaigners Faced Down the Far Right

FILE PHOTO: Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech during a press conference, following clashes after the Southport stabbing, at 10 Downing street in central London, Britain, August 1, 2024. Henry Nicholls/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech during a press conference, following clashes after the Southport stabbing, at 10 Downing street in central London, Britain, August 1, 2024. Henry Nicholls/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
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Britain is on Alert for Further Unrest Even after Anti-Racism Campaigners Faced Down the Far Right

FILE PHOTO: Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech during a press conference, following clashes after the Southport stabbing, at 10 Downing street in central London, Britain, August 1, 2024. Henry Nicholls/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech during a press conference, following clashes after the Southport stabbing, at 10 Downing street in central London, Britain, August 1, 2024. Henry Nicholls/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

British authorities said Thursday they were preparing for the possibility of further unrest, even as they applauded the efforts of anti-racism campaigners and police officers who largely stifled a threatened wave of far-right demonstrations overnight.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer sounded the note of caution after a week of anti-immigrant violence that has scarred communities from Northern Ireland to the south coast of England. Starmer spoke to reporters at a mosque in Solihull, near Birmingham, where demonstrators shut down a shopping center on Sunda, The Associated Press said.
“It’s important that we don’t let up here,” Starmer said.
At an emergency meeting with law enforcement officers at his office, Starmer said on Thursday evening that police need to remain on “high alert,” Britain’s Press Association reported. He credited strategic police staffing and swift justice for rioters in the courts for creating a deterrent that kept trouble at a minimum the night before.
Police across the United Kingdom had braced for widespread disorder on Wednesday, after far-right activists circulated a list of more than 100 sites they planned to target, including the offices of immigration lawyers and others offering services to migrants.
But those demonstrations failed to materialize as police and counter-protesters filled the streets.
Carrying signs saying “Refugees Welcome” and chanting “Whose streets? Our streets,” people turned out in force to protect asylum service centers and the offices of immigration attorneys.
The government also declared a national critical incident, putting 6,000 specially trained police on standby to respond to any disorder. Police said that protests and counter-protests were largely peaceful, though a small number of arrests were made.
“The show of force from the police and, frankly, the show of unity from communities together defeated the challenges that we faced,” said Commissioner Mark Rowley, the head of London’s Metropolitan Police Service. “It went off very peacefully last night, and the fears of extreme right disorder were abated.”
But tensions remain high after right-wing agitators fueled the violence by circulating misinformation about the identity of the suspect in a knife attack that killed three young girls in the English seaside town of Southport last week. The last child hospitalized in the July 29 stabbing has been released, police said Thursday.
Nearly 500 people have been arrested around the country after anti-immigrant mobs clashed with police, attacked mosques and overran two hotels housing asylum-seekers. Among them was a man in his 50s, arrested on suspicion of “encouraging murder.” The arrest came after a local Labor councilor allegedly called for far-right protesters’ throats to be “cut.''
The Labor Party suspended Ricky Jones, who is alleged to have made the remark at a London demonstration Wednesday.
The government has pledged to track down and prosecute those responsible for the disorder, including people who incite violence online.
In an effort to dissuade people from taking part in future unrest by showing that rioters will face swift justice, TV cameras were allowed into Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday as Judge Andrew Menary sentenced two men to 32 months in prison.
During the hearing, prosecutors played video of rioters pelting police with bricks and setting garbage cans on fire. One of the suspects was in the middle of a group that ripped the bumper off a police vehicle and threw it at officers as onlookers cheered.
“It seems to me there were hundreds of people observing, as if this was some sort of Tuesday night entertainment,” Menary said. “All of them should be frankly ashamed of themselves.”
Northern Ireland’s regional legislative assembly convened Thursday to respond to the unrest. Minister for Justice Naomi Long said the violence and racist attacks in recent days were “not reflective” of the people of Northern Ireland.
The government is also considering imposing sanctions other than jail time, including banning rioters from soccer matches. Home Office minister Diana Johnson told LBC Radio that there should be consequences for those implicated in disorder.
“I think all options are being looked at, to be honest, and I am pretty clear that most football clubs do not want to be seen to have football hooligans and people carrying out criminal acts on the streets of the local communities in their stands on a Saturday,″ she said.