Brasilia, May 5 – Brazilian police said on Sunday they had foiled a planned bomb attack targeting American pop star Lady Gaga’s concert in Rio de Janeiro, which drew a record crowd of over 2 million people to Copacabana Beach on Saturday.
In a joint operation with the Justice Ministry, the Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro state said the plot was linked to an extremist group promoting hate speech, teen radicalization, and self-harm content as a means of social identity. Authorities said the suspects were recruiting minors to execute coordinated attacks using improvised explosives and Molotov cocktails.
“The suspects were recruiting participants, including minors, to carry out coordinated attacks,” the police said in a statement, adding that digital communications used coded language and extremist symbolism to incite violence.
The operation was launched following a tip-off from Rio state police intelligence, which was analyzed by the Cyber Operations Lab of the Justice Ministry. Investigators discovered a network of online cells encouraging violent behavior among teenagers, some of whom identified themselves as part of Gaga’s fan community, the “Little Monsters.”
A man described as the leader of the group was arrested in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul for illegal firearm possession. A teenager in Rio de Janeiro was also detained on child pornography charges, authorities said.
Search and seizure warrants were carried out across four states — Rio de Janeiro, Mato Grosso, Rio Grande do Sul, and São Paulo — with more than a dozen locations raided.
Lady Gaga, known for her vocal support of LGBTQ+ rights and mental health awareness, was performing in what was billed as a historic open-air concert in Rio. City officials reported the turnout at 2.1 million, making it one of the largest music gatherings in Brazil’s history.
