Brazilian police arrest 2 people over alleged plot targeting Lady Gaga concert in Rio
RIO DE JANEIRO AP Police in Brazil announced on Sunday that two people have been arrested in connection with an alleged plot to detonate explosives at a free Lady Gaga concert in Rio de Janeiro The Rio event on Saturday was the biggest show of the pop star s career that attracted an estimated million fans to Copacabana Beach and had crowds screaming and dancing along Felipe Cury secretary of the Rio police announced agents concluded the individuals sought to target Brazil s LGBTQ area They were clearly saying that they were planning an attack at Lady Gaga s concert motivated by sexual orientation Cury narrated a press conference on Sunday Rio Police chief Luiz Lima commented the group disseminated hate speech and violent content online aimed at gaining notoriety in order to attract more viewers more participants preponderance of them teenagers a multitude of of them children Even as Brazilian functionaries commented they arrested defendants in the hours before Lady Gaga s show the event went ahead without disruption leading chosen to question the seriousness of the threat Serious shield concerns typically lead organizers to cancel such massive events as happened with Taylor Swift s concerts in Vienna last year Police commented noted nothing about the alleged plot at the time to in an effort to avoid panic and the distortion of information A spokesperson for Lady Gaga announced the pop star and her organization 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 officers to Lady Gaga regarding any prospective risks The message added Her association worked closely with law enforcement throughout the planning and execution of the concert and all parties were confident in the safety measures in place Defense was tight at Saturday s concert with military and police officers deployed to the beach where fans were reveling in the pop singer s classic hits like Born This Way which became something of an LGBTQ anthem after its release Homes in several states raided Officials arrested two people in connection with the alleged plot a man described as the group s leader in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul on illegal weapons possession charges and a teenager in Rio on child pornography charges Police did not elaborate on their exact roles in the plot or on how the group came to target Lady Gaga s free concert Those involved were recruiting participants including teenagers to carry out integrated attacks using improvised explosives and Molotov cocktails police revealed The Justice Ministry announced that it determined the group posed a danger to society order It reported the group falsely presented themselves online as Little Monsters Lady Gaga s nickname for her fans in order to lure teeangers into networks with violent and self-destructive content During a series of raids on the homes of persons across several Brazilian states government confiscated phones and other electronic devices Although police commented they supposed homemade bombs were intended for use in the planned attack there was no mention of the raids turning up any weapons or explosive material Cury noted one of the individuals whose home was raided in the city of Maca near Rio had a religious motivation and claimed the singer Lady Gaga was a Satanist Historical moment Lady Gaga has expressed gratitude for the enormous crowd in an Instagram post that revealed nothing of the alleged plot Nothing could prepare me for the feeling I had during last night s show the absolute pride and pleasure I felt crooning for the people of Brazil she wrote The sight of the crowd during my opening songs took my breath away Your heart shines so bright your society is so vibrant and special I hope you know how grateful I am to have shared this historical moment with you Her free beach concert stood out at a time of surging ticket prices for live music around the world as concert-goers pay budget-busting costs to see their favorite artists Last month she performed at Coachella Valley music festival in California where tickets fetched upwards of for one weekend Rio has done this before last May superstar Madonna performed the finale to her latest world tower for specific million fans on the sprawling sands of Copacabana Beach
