Fifteen years in prison for man who wanted to attack Taylor Swift concert in Vienna

©picture alliance / Newscom | Shanna Madison

An Austrian with North Macedonian roots has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for planning an attack on a concert by American singer Taylor Swift in the Austrian capital Vienna in 2024.

The 21-year-old young man planned to drive a car into waiting fans at the Ernst-Happel stadium in August 2024 and kill people with explosives and stabbing weapons. The 21-year-old was arrested after a tip-off from the U.S. intelligence agency CIA. Thanks to alert police forces, such a tragedy was avoided. He was arrested shortly before the concert and before he could take action. All three of Taylor Swift's concerts were canceled as a precaution. This happened during Taylor Swift's Eras Tour in Austria. Swift herself later mentioned in a documentary about the Eras Tour that the tour had narrowly avoided a massacre. She wrote on social media that the cancellation of the shows in Vienna was terrible, but that she was grateful for the authorities because this meant that there was only mourning for concerts and not human lives.

The man pleaded guilty in court in Wiener Neustadt. In addition, the jury found that the man was also involved in building a terror cell; the court sentenced him to 15 years in prison for plotting a terror attack.

According to security officials, the teenager had been radicalized through the Internet and swore allegiance to Islamic State. Beran A. said in his interrogation that he was not actually a radical Muslim until mid-2023. To authorities, he allegedly said at the time of his arrest that he wanted to kill "himself and a large crowd".

©picture alliance / Newscom | Shanna Madison