Austria charges terrorism charges over plot to attack Taylor Swift concert – National
Austrian prosecutors filed terrorism-related charges on Monday against a 21-year-old suspect they say is planning to attack pop star Taylor Swift’s concerts in Vienna in August 2024.
Public prosecutors in Vienna said in a statement that the unnamed defendant had declared allegiance to the Islamic State group by sharing propaganda materials and videos with various messages.
Prosecutors in Vienna also accused the defendant of having “found instructions on the Internet for the construction of a shrapnel bomb based on the explosive triacetone triperoxide” often used by IS, as well as producing a small amount of explosives.
Prosecutors also said the defendant made “numerous attempts” to buy weapons illegally from abroad and bring them to Austria.
Vienna’s public prosecutors plan to continue the criminal case against an unnamed suspect in Wiener Neustadt, a city close to the Austrian capital.
A spokesperson for the public prosecutor’s office in Vienna confirmed to the Associated Press that the accused has been arrested. Austrian media identified the suspect as Beran A. and said he was arrested in August 2024.
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Austrian authorities have canceled three Taylor Swift concerts scheduled for Vienna in August 2024 after they said they foiled an apparent assassination attempt.
The US provided insufficient discretion in the decision to cancel the concerts.
“The United States is always focused on our campaign against terrorism. We work closely with partners around the world to monitor and disrupt threats. And as part of that mission, the United States shared information with partners in Austria to disrupt the threat of Taylor Swift’s concerts there in Vienna,” said national security spokesman at the White House at the time John Kirby24 in August 2024.
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