RIO DE JANEIRO — Police in Brazil mentioned on Sunday that two folks have been arrested in reference to an alleged plot to detonate explosives at a free Girl Gaga live performance in Rio de Janeiro.
The Rio occasion on Saturday was the largest present of the pop star’s profession that attracted an estimated 2.5 million followers to Copacabana Seaside and had crowds screaming and dancing alongside.
Felipe Cury, secretary of the Rio police, mentioned authorities believed the suspects sought to focus on Brazil’s LGBTQ group.
“They were clearly saying that they were planning an attack at Lady Gaga’s concert motivated by sexual orientation,” Cury instructed a press convention on Sunday.
Rio Police chief Luiz Lima mentioned the group disseminated hate speech and violent content material on-line “aimed at gaining notoriety in order to attract more viewers, more participants — most of them teenagers, many of them children.”
At the same time as Brazilian authorities mentioned they arrested suspects within the hours earlier than Girl Gaga’s present, the occasion went forward with out disruption — main some to query the seriousness of the risk. Severe safety issues usually lead organizers to cancel such large occasions — as occurred with Taylor Swift’s live shows in Vienna final 12 months.
Police mentioned nothing concerning the alleged plot on the time to in an effort to “avoid panic” and “the distortion of information.”
A spokesperson for Girl Gaga mentioned the pop star and her group “learned about this alleged threat via media reports this morning. Prior to and during the show, there were no known safety concerns, nor any communication from the police or authorities to Lady Gaga regarding any potential risks.”
The assertion added: “Her team worked closely with law enforcement throughout the planning and execution of the concert and all parties were confident in the safety measures in place.”
Safety was tight at Saturday’s live performance, with 5,200 navy and law enforcement officials deployed to the seashore the place followers have been reveling within the pop singer’s basic hits like “Born This Way,” which turned one thing of an LGBTQ anthem after its 2011 launch.
Houses in a number of states raided
Authorities arrested two folks in reference to the alleged plot — a person described because the group’s chief within the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul on unlawful weapons possession fees, and a teen in Rio on baby pornography fees. Police didn’t elaborate on their precise roles within the plot or on how the group got here to focus on Girl Gaga’s free live performance.
“Those involved were recruiting participants, including teenagers, to carry out integrated attacks using improvised explosives and Molotov cocktails,” police mentioned.
The Justice Ministry mentioned that it decided the group posed a “risk to public order.” It mentioned the group falsely introduced themselves on-line as “Little Monsters” — Girl Gaga’s nickname for her followers — with a purpose to lure youngsters into “networks with violent and self-destructive content.”
Throughout a sequence of raids on the properties of 15 suspects throughout a number of Brazilian states, authorities confiscated telephones and different digital gadgets. Though police mentioned they believed home made bombs have been meant to be used within the deliberate assault, there was no point out of the raids turning up any weapons or explosive materials.
Cury mentioned one of many suspects whose house was raided within the metropolis of Macaé, close to Rio, “had a religious motivation” and “claimed the singer (Lady Gaga) was a Satanist.”
