Lady Gaga performs at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Photo / Getty Images
Lady Gaga performs at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Photo / Getty Images
Brazilian police arrested two people for plotting a bomb attack at Lady Gaga‘s Rio concert.
The plot involved recruiting online to use improvised explosives and Molotov cocktails for notoriety.
Security was tight with 5000 officers; the concert drew up to two million attendees.
Brazilian police said they had arrested two people in connection with a foiled plot to attack Lady Gaga’s packed mega-concert in Rio de Janeiro.
Rio’s civil police force said that “together with the ministry of justice” it had “prevented a bomb attack that would have occurredat Lady Gaga’s concert in Copacabana” on Saturday night (local time).
Officials said the superstar’s huge free gig on the beach, her first concert in Brazil since 2012, drew up to two million people.
Writing on X, Rio police said they had arrested an adult who was “responsible for the plot” as well as a teenager in the operation codenamed “Fake Monster” — a reference to the US pop diva’s pet name for her fans, “Little Monsters.”
Aerial view of US pop star Lady Gaga performing during a free concert at Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Photo / AFP
It said those involved had recruited people online to “carry out attacks using improvised explosives” and Molotov cocktails as “a collective challenge with the aim of gaining notoriety on social media”.
The police added that the group behind the plot “spread hate speech”, radicalised youths, and used self-harm on digital platforms as mechanisms to develop social belonging.
Police carried out raids across Rio de Janeiro state as well as in the states of Sao Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, and Mato Grosso.
Lady Gaga’s concert was the second million-strong show on Copacabana beach in a year after a huge concert last year by Madonna.
Security was extremely tight for Saturday’s show, with some 5000 officers, drones and both surveillance and facial recognition cameras deployed.
The 39-year-old star’s fans reacted with shock to the news of the foiled plot.
“THANK GOD. This would have had an impact on over 2 million people,” posted the LadyGagaFansTogether Instagram account, which has 307,000 followers.
Writing on the same account one fan said he was “scared sick about her (Gaga) being safe at all times”.
The gig was part of a strategy by Rio to hold mega-concerts in May in an effort to boost tourism during what is considered the low season.
All week, Gaga fans had flocked to Rio, a city famous for its annual Carnival that attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists from around the world.
Mayor Eduardo Paes has also hinted that he plans to bring in Irish rock band U2, although no date has been given.
Lady Gaga had kicked off her show perched more than 2m above the stage in a massive scarlet hoop gown which opened to reveal a vertical cage from which her dancers exited to a rendition of her 2011 song Bloody Mary.
“Brazil, I missed you so much,” screamed the popstar, who performed several tracks from her latest album, Mayhem, as well as favourites from throughout her career.
