On August 21, 2024, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner visited the emergency services for the four Coldplay concerts in Vienna in front of the Ernst Happel Stadium with State Police President Gerhard Pürstl and operational commander Xenia Zauner to get an impression of the security measures taken. “Preparations for operations have been intensified, security measures have been strengthened and controls have been tightened,” said Interior Minister Gerhard Karner.
During Coldplay concerts there will be an increased number of police in all areas. The Vienna State Police Department has extensive experience and great expertise in securing major events. Around 64,000 visitors are expected at Coldplay every day. Both national and international developments were incorporated into the operational planning concepts for major events. The Directorate for State Security and Intelligence (DSN) uses all possible means of obtaining information and is in intensive, ongoing exchange with partners from home and abroad. In addition to uniformed forces from the state police departments of Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland, the Cobra task force, the WEGA and the state traffic department will also be in action. There will also be civilian officers in the audience and around the venue. Close and coordinated cooperation with the organizer is also an essential part of the preparation.
Terror alert level in European countries
In Austria – as in many other European countries – the terror warning level “High” has been in effect for a long time. In order to be able to effectively ward off any threat to the population, the terror warning level entails extensive security precautions and measures.
This includes an increased police presence in public, an even greater focus on crowds and more intensive controls in advance, which results in coordinated and complex security concepts for major events of all kinds. This procedure has proven itself many times over, as the DSN’s thwarting of the recent dangerous situation at Taylor Swift’s concerts has shown, and will therefore be continued in this form.
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