00:00After the ORF took over the Vienna Stadthalle as the main location for the Eurovision Song Contest a few days ago,
00:07On Wednesday, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner, together with the organizers, invited the public to a first media security check.
00:14The Interior Minister emphasized the need for increased security measures, but expressed confidence.
00:21I am convinced that we will celebrate a peaceful and, above all, safe music festival in Vienna, Austria, in mid-May.
00:32become.
00:33Why? Because the security authorities and security forces will do everything humanly possible.
00:40to ensure the safety of guests and the safety of the population in this city.
00:46There are undoubtedly differences compared to the ESC in 2015, according to Karner.
00:51We still have the second-highest terror alert level in Austria. Four out of five.
01:00This warning level was raised after the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7th.
01:07And we still have this increased threat level in Austria.
01:14As in many other countries, in most other countries in Europe as well.
01:20And that naturally means that special precautions need to be taken for an event like the ESC.
01:27Security-related preparations therefore began immediately after the Basel Song Contest in May 2025.
01:35Currently, all goods deliveries to the event hall are being inspected by explosives detectorists and also scanned by the customs mobile team.
01:44Furthermore, the financial police check the employees of security companies.
01:49But these are not the only ones.
01:50All colleagues who are on duty here every day, from the chainer to the sound engineer, will
01:59We checked everything here and accordingly reported our response to the organizer, pointing out any potential hazards.
02:09To give you an idea, we're talking about approximately 15,000 checks that we have to carry out here.
02:16This is done by our State Office for State Security and Extremism Prevention, and we have currently checked approximately 25% here.
02:24As you can imagine, the closer we get to the event, the more fluctuations there will be.
02:31Absences of security personnel or workers.
02:35That means we must be prepared right up to the end and provide the necessary resources to ensure we are ready until the very end.
02:42to be able to check all workers employed here accordingly.
02:47We are not just the host broadcaster of a small music competition here, but we are responsible for one of the world's largest and
02:58most complex media events, and of course security has top priority.
03:05We bear the responsibility this evening, but also throughout the entire week of shows, not only for everyone.
03:12Not only for the artists who will perform here, but also, of course, for the audience, for the many thousands of people in the
03:18The city and also the area around the town hall.
03:20And the entire security concept is, so to speak, a collaborative work, one could almost say, between the security authorities, the Ministry of Finance, and customs.
03:31us, with the city of Vienna, with the Stadthalle.
03:34And I think we also got a good sense of that today in our preliminary meeting, that we all have a very good understanding of the situation.
03:41We are set up in such a way that we all cooperate very well.
03:43The event itself will not only take place here in the town hall, but we also have events at the town hall square.
03:50the opening ceremony, for which we are of course also responsible for the corresponding security precautions and are preparing accordingly.
03:59will be.
04:00And so, ESC fans will also have to adjust to corresponding security standards.
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