(Vienna) Security measures have been tightened in Vienna for the series of concerts that British band Coldplay is giving this week, Austrian police said Tuesday after the cancellation of Taylor Swift’s shows targeted by a suicide bombing plot.
“Enhanced security measures are being ordered and implemented,” Vienna police spokesman Philipp Hasslinger told AFP ahead of the four concerts taking place at the Ernst-Happel stadium on Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.
“Several hundred police officers, in plain clothes and in uniform, will be mobilized for these events,” the police said in a statement, also announcing roadblocks and parking reserved for authorized persons only.
Staff working “in and around the stadium will be subject to security screening”, while fans may be searched at the entrance to the stadium, the same one where Taylor Swift’s shows were due to take place.
On August 7, the American star’s concerts were canceled with the arrest of three young men suspected of planning a jihadist suicide attack and one of the suspects allegedly participated in the assembly of the scene, according to the APA agency.
“However, there is currently no concrete threat” and the 60,000 spectators expected each evening “must therefore not be deprived of the pleasure of attending” the sold-out concerts, said Philipp Hasslinger.
These are the first major concerts to be held at the Vienna stadium since the cancellation of Taylor Swift’s concerts.
On Monday night, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin posted a message on X: “I’m so happy to be in Vienna,” he wrote in the caption of a photo apparently taken in the Austrian capital.