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A youth in Germany has been charged with the participation in a planned attack on a concert by Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour” in Vienna. The suspect, identified as Mohammad A., is intended to interpret instructions for bomb construction and have translated a rage of the terrorist organization of Islamic state for the main suspect of the attack plan.
Police discovered arsenal with the main suspect
The teenager, who originally comes from Syria, was accused of supporting a foreign terrorist association and helping to have “a serious act of violence”.
A 19-year-old Austrian citizen had previously been arrested as the main suspect. Previously, the police had found machetes, knives, chemicals and timers to build explosive sets at the canceled show. In the house of the parents of the man in Ternitz, about 65 kilometers outside of Vienna, the officials also discovered propaganda material from the Islamic State.
Last August, Swift was forced to cancel three shows in the Austrian capital due to terrorist threats. Although she initially did not publicly comment on the cancellations, she later wrote a contribution. In it she described the situation as “devastating”.
Swift: “grateful that we mourned concerts and do not live”
“The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new kind of fear. And with an enormous feeling of guilt. Because so many people had planned to come to these shows,” she wrote on August 21. “But I was also so grateful to the authorities. Thanks to them, we mourned and not live. I was touched by the love and cohesion that I saw with the fans who supported each other.”
At the time, she added: “Let me say one thing very clearly. I will not speak publicly about something if I think that this could provoke those who want to harm the fans at my concerts. In such cases, ‘silence’ actually means to show relief. And to wait for the right moment for a statement. My priority was to end our European tour safely. And I am very easy to do so.”