After Call for Attack by IS Offshoot on Viennese Ball Season: Police See No Specific Threat

The Vienna police confirmed a report on the online portal of the "Salzburger Nachrichten" (SN) insofar as a "posting to be considered a call" also mentioned the "Vienna Ball Season". According to SN, the posting includes a subject with a hand on a black background, pointing a weapon at the viewer. It features a kind of top-ten list of attack targets, marked with a red crosshair, including the Carnival of Venice, the Cannes Film Festival, St. Patrick's Day in Ireland, the Munich Oktoberfest, and indeed the Vienna ball season.

Vienna Police: No concrete threat to be expected after call for attack on Vienna Ball Season

What is new is that the call contains a specification for a federal state for the first time. So far, for example, Christmas markets in Austria have been generally threatened. The Vienna State Police Directorate did not want to comment in more detail on the call. There is no concrete danger to be expected, the security forces referred to the currently valid second highest terror warning level. For major events, the LSE (State Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counter-Terrorism) has "standardised procedures and processes that are already being applied and are also used at large ball events", according to the Vienna police's press release. "Concrete police measures cannot be mentioned due to security police secrecy interests." The SN referred to a warning from the UN last August about the growing risk of attacks on Europe by the ISPK. Alleged ISPK attack plans against St. Stephen's Cathedral and Cologne Cathedral emerged as early as Christmas 2023. Arrests were made. The second highest terror warning level has been in effect in Austria since the attack by Hamas terrorists on Israel in October 2023.

(APA/red)

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