The Brazilian police could frustrate a bomb attack during the mega concert of the star Lady Gaga in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday: two people suspected of being involved were arrested, as the authorities announced on Sunday.
About two million people had invaded the iconic Copacabana beach until the early hours of the morning to listen to the US diva, according to the mayor’s office, under the watchful eye of an impressive security device.
The network promoted the violent radicalization of young people and encouraged the attack as a “challenge”
The Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro announced in a statement that, in collaboration with the Ministry of Justice, “he had avoided a bomb attack that was going to occur during Lady Gaga’s show in Copacabana.”
The attempt to attack was orchestrated by a group that “disseminated hate speeches” and promoted the radicalization of adolescents and autolesions on digital platforms, according to the police. The suspects “recruited” adolescents through the Internet to “promote attacks with the use of makeshift explosives.”
Brazilian police explain the details of the operationSERGIO QUEIROZ / REUTERS
These used “false profiles” on social networks to impersonate “members of the Lady Gaga fans community, worldwide known as Little Monsters“The Ministry of Justice said in a note.” The Network promoted the radicalization of adolescents, the dissemination of hate crimes, “mainly against the LGTBI community,” the self -lecture and violent content as a form of belonging and challenge among young people, “said the Ministry of Justice.
In one of the unfolding of this Sunday’s operation, the police recorded in Macaé, municipality of the state of Rio, the domicile of a man who also planned attacks and threatened to kill a minor live. “The police acted silently and without creating panic (…) we act surgically so that the crime will not be consummated,” said Felipe Curi, official of the Civil Police of Rio, cited in a note from the institution.
They used false profiles to impede the fans of the American singer, known as ‘Little Monsters’
The action, baptized as Fake Monsterwas carried out thanks to an alert from the Intelligence Department of the Rio Police, which “identified digital cells oriented to inducing violent behaviors in young people through encryption languages and challenges with extremist symbology.”
Lady Gaga offered this Saturday on Copacabana a massive free concert that lasted about two hours and developed under a strong security device that involved some 5,000 agents. The scheme also had 78 observation towers, drones with facial recognition technology and a dozen extra security cameras.
Lady Gaga, during her massive performance on Copacabana Beach in Rio de JaneiroBuda Mendes / Getty
The presence of the winner of an Oscar was highly anticipated in Brazil, after in 2017 he canceled his presentation in Rock in Rio for health problems. Almost a decade later, he returned to Rio for a concert on the Arena de Copacabana, within an initiative of the Mayor’s Office to try to bring a renowned artist to the city every year.
The Rio authorities, who expect economic benefits of more than 100 million dollars, want to continue with this tradition of a great free concert in May, to stimulate tourism for a period considered of low season.
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