Foiling attempts, a teenager was taken into custody for plotting an alleged terrorist attack on two Frankfurt locations. Without naming the specific locations, it was revealed he had targeted a gay venue and a Catholic church in the city.

US intelligence provided information on the young man, who has Turkish and German citizenship, to local authorities who then picked him up. The United States Ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, said: “The US will always work with our German Government partners to thwart acts of terror. This case highlights the urgent need to work together.”

Upon his arrest, the young man was found in possession of instructions of how to make TATP (triacetone triperoxide), an explosive common amongst previous terror attacks for how easy it is to obtain the necessary chemical ingredients. While he was still in the process of getting the chemicals, small amounts were found in his home in Florstadt, a town located in Hesse, over 25 kilometres away from the locations he was plotting to attack.  

There has been a worrying proliferation of stories concerning thwarted terror attacks on queer spaces. Earlier this year, a 20 year-old British white supremacist was arrested for planning to attack a Pride event with a machete.

In a social media post, Ethan Stables said he was plotting to enter the venue and “slaughter every single one of the gay bastards” as he didn’t “want to live in a gay world and sure as hell don’t want my children living in one. What happened to our traditional qualities? They’re fucking ruined.”

In another case, a man in the US was jailed for seven years after he was stopped by police on his way to LA Gay Pride with a car full of assault weapons. James Howell’s vehicle also contained 15 pounds of chemicals mixed and ready to be used as explosives.