American artist Taylor Swift has cancelled her three concerts at Vienna’s Ernst Happel stadium following the arrest on Wednesday of two suspected terrorists who were planning to carry out an attack during the show, the tour organisers said in a statement.
“Following confirmation by government authorities of a terrorist attack planned for the Ernst Happel Stadium, we have no other option but to cancel the three scheduled shows for the safety of everyone,” explained the Barracuda Music team.
Tickets will be automatically refunded within the next ten business days, the publication said.
The cancellation follows an anti-terrorist operation carried out today in Austria, in which a 19-year-old Austrian citizen was arrested in the town of Ternitz, about 65 kilometers southwest of Vienna, and a second was arrested in the capital.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said on social media that “the situation surrounding the allegedly planned terrorist attack in Vienna was very serious.”
“We live in an age where violent means are used to attack our Western way of life. Islamist terrorism threatens security and freedom in many Western countries, which is precisely why we will not give up our values, such as freedom and democracy, but will defend them even more vehemently,” the post continued.
The investigation is still ongoing and more suspects are apparently being sought, Austrian news agency APA reported.
Austria’s Director General of Public Security, Franz Ruf, reported at a press conference that “specific preparations” including chemical substances were found at the detainee’s home in Ternitz for attacks at Swift’s concerts and other events in the Vienna metropolitan area.
Authorities reported the radicalisation of the young man, who in July swore allegiance to the current leader of the Islamic State (IS), but did not offer further details about the second person arrested in the Austrian capital.
Although the press conference announced the deployment of a special operation to guarantee the security of the event, the director of the Vienna State Police, Gerhard Pürstl, stressed that they remained on alert for terrorist threats.
The Ernst Happel Stadium was due to host around 170,000 visitors from 8 to 10 August for the sold-out ‘Eras Tour’.
In November 2020, Vienna was the target of a terrorist attack that claimed the lives of four people.
Last December, authorities arrested four suspects of planning an attack on St. Stephen’s Cathedral in the city centre.
