A bomb attack was thwarted during the mega-concert of Lady Gaga in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday. Two suspects were arrested, authorities said. About two million spectators were gathered on Copacabana beach, under close surveillance.
A bomb attack was thwarted during a mega-concert by singer Lady Gaga in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday and two people, suspected of being involved, were arrested, the authorities announced on Sunday.
About two million people had invaded the emblematic beach of Copacabana until the early hours, to listen to the American diva, under the supervision of an impressive security deployment.
A “collective challenge”
Civil police from Rio de Janeiro announced in a statement that in collaboration with the Ministry of Justice, she had “prevented a bomb attack that was to perform during the Lady Gaga show in Copacabana”.
The attack had been orchestrated by a group that “broadcast hatred speeches”, and promoting the radicalization of adolescents and self -control on digital platforms, according to the police.
The attackers designed this plan as a “collective challenge” in order to gain notoriety on social networks, the police said. This plan was targeting children, adolescents and the LGBT community, a group strongly represented among the hundreds of thousands of Lady Gaga fans in Rio.
The “group leader” and “Planning manager” was arrested in the state of the Rio Grande Do Sul (south), while illegally wore a firearm.
A teenager is also in police custody in Rio de Janeiro. As part of the operation called “Fake Monster”, the police also made fifteen searches in several cities in the State of Rio de Janeiro, as well as in São Paulo (Southeast), Rio Grande Do Sul and Mato Grosso (West).
“sick for fear”
“The people involved have recruited participants to promote attacks using improvised explosives and Molotov cocktails,” said police. The American singer did not comment on the thwarted attack, but her fans, affectionately called “little monsters”, went to social networks to express their relief in the face of the police ‘reaction.
“Thank goodness. It would have shocked more than two million people,” said the Ladygagafansther account on Instagram. Another fan reacted: “I am literally sick for fear for his (Lady Gaga) security”.
The police said they had acted discreetly and the concert, supervised by more than 5,000 agents, drones and facial recognition cameras, went smoothly.
Municipal authorities, who also hope for economic benefits of more than $ 100 million, wish to perpetuate this free mega-concert tradition in May, in order to stimulate tourism during a period considered low season.
Lady Gaga kicked off the evening, perched more than six feet above the scene in a scarlet dress, singing her 2011 “Bloody Mary” tube in front of a delirious crowd.
The American pop diva, which had not happened in Brazil since a tour in 2012, has chained with “Abracadabra”, one of the flagship titles of its latest album, “Mayhem”, released in March. In the middle of the song, Gaga removed his red dress to reveal another in the colors of the Brazilian flag.
