Snipers patrol the roof of the stadium during the Coldplay concert in Vienna, amid a huge police presence at the gigs, after the city’s anti-terror police foiled an attack on Taylor Swift shows
Snipers patrolled the roof of the stadium during Coldplay’s concert in Vienna. Police had foiled a possible terrorist attack on Taylor Swift’s shows in the Austrian capital.
Chris Martin and his band took the stage at the Ernst Happel Stadium on Wednesday evening for the first concert there since the Eras tour was cancelled.
Photos of a police sniper surfaced online. The Vienna police reassured the public: “Our job is to thoroughly secure the concert, including the rooftop venue.”
“Don’t worry about the police and enjoy the concert instead!” the police added.
Coldplay performed Swift’s 2008 hit Love Story during their performance, with frontman Martin paying tribute to “the beauty, togetherness and kindness of all Taylor Swift fans.”
Photos of a police shooter surfaced online, and Vienna police reassured the public: “Our job is to fully secure the concert, including the rooftop venue.”
Armed Austrian police officers patrol outside the Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna, Austria on August 21, 2024
Coldplay frontman Martin paid tribute to ‘the beauty, togetherness and kindness of all Taylor Swift fans’
Taylor Swift canceled all three concerts in Vienna after two suspects were arrested for plotting a terrorist attack on her shows – Swift is pictured performing in London in June
Swift was scheduled to perform for an estimated 170,000 fans on August 8, 9, and 10. The cancellation of the shows left many Swifties disappointed.
The 34-year-old pop star was reportedly “devastated” after having to cancel the Austrian leg of her tour and vowed to return to Vienna “as soon as possible”.
“It was terrible that our shows in Vienna were cancelled,” she wrote in an Instagram post on Wednesday evening.
‘The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of dread and immense guilt, because so many people had planned to come to those shows.
“But I was also very grateful to the authorities, because thanks to them we mourned for concerts and not for lives.”
The American singer said she only made her statement public later to protect the safety of her fans.
She continued: ‘Let me be very clear: I am not going to speak publicly about anything if I think it will provoke people who want to harm the fans who come to my shows.
Fans line up outside the Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna, Austria, on August 21, 2024, ahead of the first concert in a series by British rock band Coldplay
Taylor Swift fans react as they sing together in front of St. Stephen’s Cathedral following the cancellation of three Taylor Swift concerts at Ernst Happel Stadium due to a planned attack on the venue, in Vienna, Austria August 9, 2024
‘In cases like these, ‘silence’ actually means that you are holding back and waiting to express yourself at the right moment.’
Swift was also said to have been “horrified” by the thought of a terrorist attack taking place during one of her shows, such as the 2017 one at pop star Ariana Grande’s performance in Manchester.
Austrian authorities have now arrested three teenage suspects aged 17, 18 and 19.
The 19-year-old suspect was later named Beran A, an ISIS member fanatic who was building a bomb in his parents’ backyard to run over concertgoers.
According to German intelligence sources, he was radicalized in Berlin by a notorious hate preacher.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said after X news of the first arrests: “Thanks to the intensive cooperation of our police and the newly established DSN (Directorate for Security and Intelligence) with foreign services, the threat was recognized and countered early, and a tragedy was prevented.”