Taylor Swift’s concerts in Austria have been canceled after authorities there announced the arrests of two people accused of plotting a terrorist attack in Vienna, with one of them focusing on the musician’s stadium shows as a possible target.
On Wednesday, show organizer Barracuda Music announced on its website that Swift’s three sold-out shows starting Thursday at Ernst Happel Stadium were being canceled as a precaution.
One of those arrested was a 19-year-old Austrian “with North Macedonian roots” who “lived with his family in Ternitz,” south of Vienna, the Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung reported. He was arrested “under strong suspicion of terrorism,” the paper wrote.
Franz Ruf, public security director at Austria’s Interior Ministry, said authorities were aware of “preparatory actions” for a possible attack “and also that there is a focus … on the Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna” by the 19-year-old, the Austria Press Agency reported.
Ruf said the suspect is an Austrian citizen who had pledged an oath of allegiance to the Islamic State group and is believed to have become radicalized on the internet. Ruf said that chemical substances were secured and were being evaluated, but he didn’t give details.
The other suspect was arrested in Vienna, according to the newspaper report. City officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In 2017, a bomb attack at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, killed 22 people and injured more than 100. A suicide bomber set up a backpack device in Manchester Arena at the end of the concert as thousands of young fans were leaving.
Last week in Southport, England, three children died in a knife attack during a Swift-themed dance class. A 17-year-old boy was arrested and prosecutors did not disclose a motive.
“These were just little kids at a dance class,” Swift wrote in a statement on Instagram. “I am at a complete loss for how to ever convey my sympathies to these families.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
