Brazilian police have arrested two individuals over an alleged plot to set off explosives at Lady Gaga’s free concert in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday.
The concert, held on Copacabana Beach, attracted a massive crowd of 2.5 million fans.
The suspects, a man from Rio Grande do Sul and a teenager from Rio de Janeiro, were arrested in the hours leading up to the show.
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Police say the plot appeared to target Brazil’s LGBTQ community and was driven by hate speech.
Rio Police Secretary Felipe Cury said: “They were clearly planning an attack motivated by sexual orientation.”
According to the local police, the group recruited teenagers to carry out the attack, using improvised explosives and Molotov cocktails.
The Justice Ministry also classified the group as a “threat to public order”.
Despite the serious threat, the concert went ahead without disruption, with 5,200 military and police officers securing the area.
Lady Gaga and her team were unaware of the threat until after the show, and police kept the information under wraps to avoid panic.
A spokesperson for Gaga responded to the incident, claiming that: “Her team worked closely with law enforcement throughout the planning and execution of the concert and all parties were confident in the safety measures in place.”
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