Dramatic development in Austria: The State Security was able to thwart an attack on the Pride Parade. This was reported by the Vienna Provincial Police Directorate at a urgently convened press conference. Only two and a half years after the terrorist attack in Vienna, Islamists tried to cause another massacre.
The Pride Parade is the highlight of Vienna Pride every year. This year there was almost a murderous attack. An Islamist group allegedly chose the big event as a target – fortunately without success: investigators were able to thwart the extremists’ plans.
The three suspects, who in the meantime have been accommodated in the St. Pölten prison, are young Austrians with Bosnian and Chechen roots. The boys are 14, 17 and 20 years old. All three have radicalised themselves on the internet, it is said. They are said to sympathise with the IS. They possibly wanted to carry out the attack with a car. In recent years, terrorist attacks with cars and trucks have caused numerous deaths.
The suspected trio was arrested before the mass event began, said Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, director of the State Protection and Intelligence Directorate (DSN), at a press conference on Sunday. There was “at no time a decided danger for the participants in the parade”, he emphasised.
The DSN had been informed in advance about the alleged plans of the suspects, who had been radicalised online and sympathised with IS, kept them “under constant control” and arrested them on the order of the public prosecutor’s office in St. Pölten after house searches on Saturday, which uncovered various evidence, including weapons.
The three young men were planning an attack “with a knife or motor vehicle”, it is said. One of the suspects had already been known to the police in connection with acts of terrorism. The suspects were monitored “closely”. There were also indications that weapons had been bought abroad. A Cobra task force arrested the trio.
Now the extensive evidence, including mobile phones, weapons, throwing stars, gas weapons as well as a sabre and the seized data carriers, had to be evaluated. One of the suspects also had a vehicle. Further investigations are to clarify whether he also intended to use it. It also has to be investigated whether the gas weapons had been modified or adapted.
The organisers of the Rainbow Parade were only informed about the events on Sunday. They did not want to create a panic among the participants, especially since the police raid had already taken place. According to Haijawi-Pirchner, the three had already carried out preparatory actions: “There was a corresponding moment of danger beforehand, but it was possible to intercept it completely.
For the politicians taking part in the rainbow parade, the corresponding security and protection concepts had been implemented yesterday.