Vienna is on ‘high alert’ ahead of the opening ceremony of the Eurovision song contest amid fears that it presents a major goal for terrorists.
A whole bunch of security personnel and sniffer dogs have been deployed to create a hoop of steel across the Austrian capital.
It’s hosting the competition’s seventieth awards ceremony, which incorporates two semi-finals on Tuesday and Thursday ahead of Saturday’s grand finale.
A ‘lockdown phase’ has been enacted around Stadthalle, where the competition is being held.
Dr Nicolas Stockhammer, a counter-terror expert on the Danube University Krems, claimed that ISIS-inspired terrorists, Iran and its proxies, and ‘sleeper cells’ posed the best terror threat.
‘This type of a large event takes all essential preparations … on site immediately, but additionally in stopping any potential terrorist plots,” he told The Sun.
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‘This requires international cooperation with intelligence services and law enforcement bodies, which is going on.
‘One major threat is potential attacks in the general public viewing zones which are far more difficult to secure than the stadium site, which might be secured in a greater manner, but additionally, there may be at all times the chance that a terrorist attack might occur.
‘Austrian authorities have learnt from the three Taylor Swift concert events that needed to be cancelled in 2024 [because of a terrorism plot by Islamic State followers].’
The tutorial claimed Austrian police would have had ‘very serious threat awareness’ after they planned the best way to safely host the competition.
The ‘almost definitely’ scenario during which a terror attack happens may include a low-sophistication attack involving a automotive rampage or stabbing spree.
An attack involving a bomb was a ‘possibility’ but not as likely, he said.
The perceived terror threat across Europe has increased amid the continued situation within the Middle East between Iran, its neighbours, and America.
The Islamic Republic is well versed in using proxies to perform terror attacks abroad, giving it plausible deniability.
At the identical time, ISIS has been growing in strength to pose an increased security threat to European nations.
Kuperwasser, a former head of the Research Division on the Israel Defense Forces’ Intelligence Corps, previously told Metro that the Iranian regime had supporters all over the world.
He told Metro: ‘The regime has dormant cells that might attempt to perform terror attacks.
‘These cells are across the globe for such an eventuality, they usually are probably working to wake them up now.
‘These attacks and other steps might be geared toward destabilising and charging a price for many who were accountable for what happened to Khamenei.’
The previous general, who heads the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, said these dormant cells were in place ‘in the USA and elsewhere’ where there are dissident Iranian communities.
These warnings were joined by a German lawmaker who oversees the country’s parliamentary intelligence committee.
Marc Henrichmann told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung paper: ‘The Iranian regime has repeatedly demonstrated previously that it carries out its terror beyond its own borders.’
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