According to authorities, three suspected Islamists were detained in Austria for allegedly plotting to assault the annual LGBTQ+ Pride march.
More than 300,000 people attended the march on Saturday in Vienna, the country’s capital.
Young males between the ages of 14 and 20 were among those detained on Saturday in their homes, according to Austrian security authorities.
Although they provided no further information, they did mention that air rifles, knives, and an axe had been seized.
At a press conference on Sunday, Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, the head of Austria’s internal intelligence, announced the arrests.
He said that in order to prevent attendees from feeling concerned, authorities had withheld information about the intended assault until after the procession.
The ultimate aim of terrorism is to instill dread and apprehension among the populace. It’s also our responsibility to prevent that.
The guys, according to Mr. Haijawi-Pirchner, were Austrian citizens with ties to Bosnia and Chechnya. One of the men was previously known to the police owing to prior allegations of terrorism.
He continued that the so-called Islamic State (IS) has been inciting additional assaults, and Austrian officials were aware of this.
He stated that there have been appeals to carry out attacks in Europe once more, and Europol, the European police group, has recently produced a report to that effect. We treat this matter seriously.
In November 2020, a shooter opened fire in a well-known nightlife district of Vienna, killing four people and injuring 23 others in the country’s latest IS incident.
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