American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift shared a statement on social media on Wednesday in which she commented for the first time on the thwarted terror attack that led to the cancellation of three of her shows in Vienna, Austria earlier this month.
“The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows. But I was also so grateful to the authorities because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives,” Swift wrote, as quoted by CNN.
“I was heartened by the love and unity I saw in the fans who banded together. I decided that all of my energy had to go toward helping to protect the nearly half a million people I had coming to see the shows in London,” she continued. “My team and I worked hand in hand with stadium staff and British authorities every day in pursuit of that goal, and I want to thank them for everything they did for us.”
Swift had just completed a run of shows at London’s Wembley Stadium and the European leg of her tour. On August 7, Austrian authorities announced they had foiled a terror attack planned for at least one of the Vienna dates.
Three teenagers have been detained in connection with the investigation and are suspected of plotting a suicide attack.
Investigators found a stockpile of chemicals, explosive devices, detonators and €21,000 in counterfeit cash at the home of the main suspect, a 19-year-old Islamic State (ISIS) sympathizer who had been radicalized online, authorities said.
In December, a 16-year-old teenager was arrested for allegedly planning to attack a synagogue in Vienna.
In 2019, Austrian authorities foiled a plot to carry out a series of terror attacks, including a bombing at one of Vienna's Christmas markets, by terrorists who had been influenced by ISIS ideology.
A year later, Vienna was hit with a terrorist attack when an ISIS supporter, who had been convicted and imprisoned for trying to join ISIS in Syria, went on a shooting rampage in the city, killing four people.