Islamist Terror Attack on Vienna Pride Parade Foiled by Police
19th June 2023
Austria’s intelligence agency, the Directorate for State Security and Intelligence (DSN), has successfully thwarted a planned Islamist terrorist attack on Vienna’s annual gay pride parade that took place on Saturday, June 17th, The Financial Times reported. Lately, authorities have been warning of an increased likelihood of Islamist attacks across the EU.
The suspects—three Austrian citizens of Bosnian and Chechen descent aged 14, 17, and 20—had allegedly schemed to attack parade participants with an array of weapons, including firearms, grenades, knives, a saber, and an ax. Authorities also believe that the trio may have considered using a vehicle to plow into the crowd (as in the 2016 terror attack in Nice, which killed 86).
The Rainbow Parade, one of Europe’s largest gay pride events, took place on Vienna’s Ringstrasse and drew an estimated 300,000 attendees this past Saturday. As the DSN’s press release indicated, the police were expecting the parade to be among the potential targets of the group. This was not the first time that pride events were targeted by Islamists in Europe, as it appears that these two vectors of diversity do not always mix well.