Current:Home > ContactPolice Weigh in on Taylor Swift's London Concerts After Alleged Terror Attack Plot Foiled in Vienna-LoTradeCoin
Police Weigh in on Taylor Swift's London Concerts After Alleged Terror Attack Plot Foiled in Vienna
View Date:2025-01-18 16:01:49
Taylor Swift's concerts in London will go on.
While the “Blank Space” singer's three shows in Vienna were canceled in the wake of a foiled potential terror attack, five shows at Wembley Stadium will take place as scheduled, according to London Metropolitan Police.
"The Met works closely with venue security teams and other partners to ensure there are appropriate security and policing plans in place," a spokesperson for the organization told multiple outlets. "There is nothing to indicate that the matters being investigated by the Austrian authorities will have an impact on upcoming events here in London."
The spokesperson added, "As always, we will continue to keep any new information under careful review."
Swift will close out the European leg of her Eras Tour in Wembley, playing five shows from Aug. 15 to Aug. 20.
The confirmation of Swift’s upcoming concerts comes as new information regarding the foiled terror plot continues to emerge.
On Aug. 6, authorities in Austria arrested an Austrian man, 19, over an alleged plot to carry out a suicide attack at a Swift concert in Vienna, which prompted the cancellation of all three of her upcoming shows in the city's Ernst-Happel-Stadion soccer stadium, which were to take place between Aug. 8 and Aug. 10 and draw an estimated 170,000 fans.
"I'm sure Vienna has got its own reasons to cancel the Taylor Swift concerts," London Mayor Sadiq Khan told Sky News. "We're going to carry on, working closely with police [and] ensuring that the Taylor Swift concerts can take place in London safely."
The suspect of the foiled Vienna attack had confessed that he had planned to kill himself and a large number of other people with knives and explosive devices, Austrian officials said in a press conference Aug. 8.
The man, an Austrian citizen with North Macedonian roots, had downloaded manuals for bomb building and authorities found knives, a machete, hydrogen peroxide, homemade explosives, detonators and detonator cables at his apartment, Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, director of Austria's domestic intelligence service, told reporters.
The suspect had been planning to attack the tens of thousands of Swift fans expected to gather outside the stadium in Vienna, Haijawi-Pirchner said at the press conference, per Reuters.
Haijawi-Pirchner added that the suspect had consumed radical Islamist propaganda, mainly from Islamic State and Al Qaeda. The official also told Austria’s public broadcaster ORF that the man had uploaded an oath of allegiance to the current leader of Islamic State to an internet account just a few weeks ago, NBC News reported.
In addition to the 19-year-old, police detained two other Austrians aged 17 and 15 in connection with the reported attack plot. Haijawi-Pirchner told reporters Islamic State and Al Qaeda material was found at the home of the older teen, who he said was employed for some days by a company that was to provide unspecified services at the venue for the Swift concerts, NBC News said.
"We have prevented a terrorist attack by a suicide bomber," Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said, via German translation, on X. It is a success that we have prevented any deaths."
Islamic State, also known as ISIS, had claimed responsibility for a 2017 suicide bombing at an Ariana Grande concert in the U.K. city that killed 22 people, including children, and injured more than 200.
London's mayor said they were "looking forward to welcoming Taylor Swift back" to his city, where she had performed three concerts in June, when she was joined on and off stage by boyfriend Travis Kelce.
"We have a huge amount of experience in policing these events, we're never complacent," Khan said. "Many lessons were learnt after the awful Manchester Arena attack."
News of the foiled attack plot in Austria comes a week after a man, who recently turned 18, was arrested for allegedly killing three girls at a Swift-themed dance class in Southport. He faces three counts of murder plus 10 counts of attempted murder and one count of possession of a bladed article over the fatal stabbing. The motive for the attack has not been released.
(E! and NBC News are part of the NBCUniversal family.)
For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News AppveryGood! (4843)
Related
- Groups seek a new hearing on a Mississippi mail-in ballot lawsuit
- Why John Stamos Once Tried to Quit Full House
- Want To Keep Up With Kendall Jenner? She Uses These Drugstore Makeup Products Under $13
- Get $173 Worth of Peter Thomas Roth Top-Selling Skincare Products for Just $53
- Taylor Swift Becomes Auntie Tay In Sweet Photo With Fellow Chiefs WAG Chariah Gordon's Daughter
- The Voice Debuts First Coaches Photo With Reba McEntire After Blake Shelton's Exit
- The 16 Best Beauty Launches From July 2023: Rare Beauty, Rhode, Kylie Cosmetics, Olaplex, Tower 28 & More
- Woman found dead after suspected bear encounter near Yellowstone
- DWTS’ Ilona Maher and Alan Bersten Have the Best Reaction to Fans Hoping for a Romance
- Tom Brady and Irina Shayk Spark Romance Rumors With Intimate L.A. Outing
Ranking
- Gerry Faust, the former head football coach at Notre Dame, has died at 89
- Why Oscar De La Hoya Says He Let Travis Barker and Shanna Moakler Raise Daughter Atiana
- Make Your Dream Aesthetic Kitchen a Reality with These Organizers from Amazon
- Miranda Lambert Responds to Fan's Shoot Tequila, Not Selfies T-Shirt at Concert
- Jelly Roll goes to jail (for the best reason) ahead of Indianapolis concert
- Justin Timberlake Mourns Death of Music Director Daniel Jones at Age 41
- Want To Keep Up With Kendall Jenner? She Uses These Drugstore Makeup Products Under $13
- Get $173 Worth of Peter Thomas Roth Top-Selling Skincare Products for Just $53
Recommendation
-
Texas mother sentenced to 50 years for leaving kids in dire conditions as son’s body decomposed
-
Sarah Michelle Gellar Shares Rare Photo of Her and Freddie Prinze Jr.'s 2 Kids on Italian Vacation
-
Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds' Matilda Date Night Is Sweet as Honey
-
Activist Group ‘Names and Shames’ Cargill and Its Heirs to Keep Deforestation Promises
-
Larry Hobbs, who guided AP’s coverage of Florida news for decades, has died at 83
-
Joe Manganiello Files for Divorce From Sofía Vergara After 7 Years of Marriage
-
Alabama Black Belt Becomes Environmental Justice Test Case: Is Sanitation a Civil Right?
-
Industry Wants New Pipeline on Navajo Land Scarred by Decades of Fossil Fuel Extraction