Chemical substances have been found at the home of a 19-year-old suspected of planning an attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna, a senior official with Austria’s interior ministry has told the country’s state broadcaster.
Ruf said the older suspect had uploaded to the internet an oath of allegiance to the current leader of the ISIS terrorist group.
He said the 17-year-old was arrested in Vienna and confirmed that officials were not seeking anyone else in connection with the investigation.
Ruf told ORF an abstract danger still existed in Vienna: “That’s why the terror warning level is also at the second highest level. It is estimated to be high.”
Swift, who is in the middle of a sold-out world tour, had been due to play at Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadium on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
Earlier the Austrian interior ministry had issued a statement about the arrests and said it was planning to beef up security in and around the stadium.
Chancellor Says Cancellation ‘Bitter Disappointment’
Austria’s Chancellor Karl Nehammer posted on social media platform X, that the cancellation “is a bitter disappointment for all fans in Austria.”Nehammer, who represents the Austrian People’s Party, said: “Many thanks to the emergency services who are currently investigating at full speed. We live in a time in which violent means are being used to attack our Western way of life.”
“Islamist terrorism threatens security and freedom in many western countries. This is precisely why we will not give up our values such as freedom and democracy, but will defend them even more vehemently,” he said. His party faces a legislative election in September.
An estimated 170,000 fans were expected to have attended the concerts, but Barracuda Music said, “All tickets will be automatically refunded within the next 10 business days.”
Swift’s Eras tour began in Arizona in March 2023 and is due to conclude in Vancouver in December this year.
It has brought in more than $1 billion in ticket sales, making it the highest-grossing tour in history.
Swift toured the United States and the Americas last year and embarked on the European leg of the tour in May 2024, starting in France.
After three concerts in Warsaw last week the pop star was scheduled to visit Austria before five nights in London next week.
Asked if the London concerts could be called off, Britain’s policing minister, Diana Johnson, told LBC radio, “Clearly, the police will be looking at all the intelligence and making decisions, they risk assess every event that happens in this country, and that’s something for the police.”
Swift is due to take a break after the London gigs, before a final series of concerts in Miami, New Orleans, Indianapolis, Toronto, and Vancouver.
