2023-06-18 10:03:21
Three young men are said to have planned an attack on the 27th Rainbow Parade for LGBTIQ rights, which took place in Vienna on Saturday. The suspects, aged 14, 17 and 20, were arrested before the start of the event, which was attended by around 300,000 people, Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, director of the Directorate of State Security and Intelligence (DSN), said at a press conference on Sunday.
Haijawi-Pirchner emphasized that “at no time was there any specific danger” for the participants in the parade. The DSN was informed in advance regarding the alleged plans of the suspects who had been radicalized online and sympathized with the Islamic State (IS), kept them “under constant control” and, following house searches on Saturday, which unearthed various pieces of evidence, including weapons, by order arrested by the public prosecutor’s office in St. Pölten.
The three young men, Austrian citizens of Bosnian or Chechen origin, had planned to carry out an attack “with a knife or a car,” it said. They had planned an “attack in Vienna” with the rainbow parade as a “possible target”. One of the suspects was already known to the police in connection with acts of terrorism.
As Haijawi-Pirchner explained, there was never a “dedicated danger”. The alleged perpetrators were “closely” monitored. They radicalized themselves online and shared IS content. There were also indications of weapon purchases abroad. The trio was arrested by Cobra forces before the parade began.
Now the extensive evidence, including mobile phones, weapons, throwing stars, gas pressure guns and a saber and the secured data carriers, must be evaluated. The public prosecutor in St. Pölten ordered the arrest of the three, and they were taken to the prison there.
One of the suspects also had a vehicle. However, further investigations are necessary to determine whether he also wanted to use this. It must also first be examined whether the gas pressure guns may have been modified or adapted.
The organizer of the rainbow parade was only informed regarding the events today, Sunday. They didn’t want to create panic reactions among the participants, especially since the police had already accessed the site. According to Haijawi-Pirchner, the three are said to have already carried out the appropriate preparatory actions: “There was a corresponding moment of danger in advance, but it was completely intercepted.”
The corresponding security and protection concepts were implemented yesterday for the politicians taking part in the rainbow parade. The DSN manager did not want to reveal exactly what these looked like, so as not to endanger them in the future.
Katharina Kacerovsky-Strobl, organizer of the Vienna Pride event series with the rainbow parade on the Vienna Ring as the highlight, said in a first statement when asked by APA what the threat to the implementation of the major event might mean: “We hope for the future together with the City of Vienna, to be able to prepare even better for such dangers.”
Vienna’s Deputy Mayor Christoph Wiederkehr (NEOS) said in a broadcast: “Extremism is on the rise in many areas and the LGBTIQ community in particular is often an intense enemy image for extremists. We must not give terrorism and radicalization a millimeter of space, because open-mindedness and the diversity of our society must be defended. I would like to thank the police and all the emergency services who ensured a safe rainbow parade yesterday.”
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