Vienna is on ‘high alert’ ahead of the opening ceremony of the Eurovision song contest amid fears that it presents a prime target for terrorists.
Hundreds of security personnel and sniffer dogs have been deployed to create a ring of steel across the Austrian capital.
It is hosting the competition’s 70th awards ceremony, which includes 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 at the Danube University Krems, claimed that ISIS-inspired terrorists, Iran and its proxies, and ‘sleeper cells’ posed the greatest terror threat.
‘This kind of a massive event takes all necessary preparations … on site immediately, but also in preventing 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 happening.
‘One major threat is potential attacks in the public viewing zones that are much more difficult to secure than the stadium site, which can be secured in a better manner, but also, there is always the possibility that a terrorist attack might happen.
‘Austrian authorities have learnt from the three Taylor Swift concerts that had to be cancelled in 2024 [because of a terrorism plot by Islamic State followers].’
The academic claimed Austrian police would have had ‘very serious threat awareness’ when they planned how to safely host the competition.
The ‘most likely’ scenario in which a terror attack happens may include a low-sophistication attack involving a car 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 ongoing situation in the Middle East between Iran, its neighbours, and America.
The Islamic Republic is well versed in using proxies to carry out terror attacks abroad, giving it plausible deniability.
At the same time, ISIS has been growing in strength to pose an increased security threat to European nations.
Kuperwasser, a former head of the Research Division at the Israel Defense Forces’ Intelligence Corps, previously told Metro that the Iranian regime had supporters around the world.
He told Metro: ‘The regime has dormant cells that could try and carry out terror attacks.
‘These cells are around the globe for such an eventuality, and they are probably working to wake them up now.
‘These attacks and other steps will be aimed at destabilising and charging a price for those who were responsible for what happened to Khamenei.’
The former general, who heads the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, said these dormant cells were in place ‘in the United States 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 in the past that it carries out its terror beyond its own borders.’
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