Lollapalooza Security Increased By Al Qaeda Threat

Officials at Lollapalooza have confirmed that security at the Chicago event was increased because of the Al-Qaeda threat that closed US embassies in the Middle East.

Those who attended the music festival, which was headlined by The Cure, Mumford & Sons, and The Killers, saw their bags extensively searched, whilst undercover police officers patrolled the site, and there were also bomb-sniffing dogs deployed.

An official for Lollapalooza 2013, which took place at Grant Park in Chicago between August 2 and 4, confirmed that because of the recent threats against the United States embassies in the Middle East, they raised security at the festival.

Garry McCarthy, a Police Superintendent in Chicago, explained at a press conference, “Even though [authorities] feel it’s focused on embassies abroad, with Lollapalooza here we had to take some extra steps.”

This was because the threats were considered by a Senate Intelligence Committee member to be “the most serious in years,” with police hearing discussions that there would be an attack on American soil.

The Huffington Post reported that although there were no terrorist threats at the festival, officers in attendance were able to make around 10 arrests on various drug charges, whilst another 46 people were also arrested on other misdemeanor offences.

The ninth annual Lollapalooza festival also featured performances from Vampire Weekend, The Postal Service, New Order, The National, Haim, Nine Inch Nails, Phoenix, and Queens Of The Stone Age.

Since the threats were announced, U.S. embassies in 19 different countries have been closed, whilst government officials have also reported that the terrorist cell has devised an ingenious new set of liquid explosives that are “currently undetectable.”

Concerns have also been raised that the situation is eerily reminiscent to the months before September 11 attacks in 2001.

Did you attend this year’s Lollapalooza festival? Who was your favorite act at the event?

[Image via Raztaz42/Wikimedia]