Police Foil Alleged Bomb Plot Against Lady Gaga Concert in Rio
It was the biggest show of Lady Gaga’s career so far—more than 2 million fans came to a free concert at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 3 May. However, the event was allegedly threatened by a plot to attack attendees using improvised explosives, Brazilian authorities said.
The Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro state said that suspects recruited participants online to carry out attacks using Molotov cocktails and other homemade explosive devices, aiming to gain notoriety online, the BBC reported. The group behind the plot had been spreading hate speech online, mainly against children, adolescents, and the LGBTQ+ community—which is one of Lady Gaga’s core fan bases.
“They were clearly saying that they were planning an attack at Lady Gaga’s concert motivated by sexual orientation,” said Felipe Cury, secretary of the Rio police, at a press conference.
The person allegedly responsible for the plan and a teenager were arrested hours before the show. They were also accused of promoting the radicalization of teenagers, including self-harm and violent content, as a form of belonging online, according to the Associated Press (AP).
The Justice Ministry alleged that the group falsely presented themselves as “Little Monsters”—the nickname for Lady Gaga fans—to lure in teenagers who would then be recruited to carry out integrated explosive attacks at the show.
Police said nothing publicly about the alleged plot ahead of the concert—including to Lady Gaga’s team—to “avoid panic” and “the distortion of disinformation.”
Police searched nine addresses across Brazil, also finding a third person who allegedly planned to carry out a “satanist ritual by killing a child or baby” during the concert, Brazilian police said. The person was charged with terrorism offenses, CNN reported.
Security was tight at the event. More than 5,000 military and police officers were deployed to the beach for the concert. Attendees had to pass through metal detectors. Drones and facial recognition cameras were used to secure the event, the BBC said.
