Austrians say they foiled attainable assault on Vienna’s Pride parade by alleged IS sympathizers

BERLIN — Austrian authorities stated Sunday they’d foiled a attainable assault on Vienna‘s Pride parade by three younger males who had allegedly sympathized with the extremist Islamic State group.

The head of Austria‘s domestic intelligence service told reporters that the suspects, aged 14, 17 and 20, were arrested one hour before the start of Saturday’s Pride parade, which was attended by round 300,000 individuals, public broadcaster ORF reported.

Omar Haijawi-Pirchner from the State Protection and Intelligence Directorate stated that there was “no danger for the participants of the parade at any time.”

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer expressed his gratitude to the investigators for stopping “a possible Islamist attack in Vienna.”

“This shows once again that we must never give in in the fight against radicals and extremists,” Nehammer tweeted. “They are a threat to our democracy and security and must be dealt with severely.”

Vienna’s mayor expressed shock.

“There must be no place for hate and exclusion in Vienna. Our city is colorful and cosmopolitan,” Michael Ludwig stated, based on Austrian information company APA.

The intelligence service had obtained advance information of the suspects’ alleged plans, stored them “under constant control,” and arrested them on the orders of the St. Poelten public prosecutor’s workplace following home searches on Saturday that uncovered varied proof, together with weapons, ORF reported.

The three suspects, Austrian residents of Bosnian and Chechen origin whose identities weren’t additional revealed, had radicalized on-line and sympathized with the Islamic State group, Haijawi-Pirchner stated.

One of the suspects was already recognized to police, he added.

The trio was arrested earlier than the beginning of the parade by Austria‘s Cobra particular forces. They might have deliberate an assault with knives and a automotive, the pinnacle of the intelligence service stated.

When requested whether or not there was any query of canceling the occasion, Haijawi-Pirchner stated that this had “of course been discussed” upfront. The choice was taken to not, nonetheless, as a result of authorities have been sure the three males had no accomplices, based mostly on well-founded and dependable investigative findings, Haijawi-Pirchner stated.

The organizers of the Pride parade have been solely knowledgeable in regards to the occasions on Sunday, after the police raid had already taken place, ORF reported.

“We will not let the enemies of rights for LGBTQI people, democracy and an open society get us down,” the parade’s organizing workforce stated, APA reported.

The rights of the group have just lately been “increasingly threatened by backsliding and we have to fight every day for our visibility and safety,” stated Ann-Sophie Otte, chairwoman of the Homosexual Initiative Vienna, based on APA.