Protests are planned in Malmo after contest organisers resisted calls to exclude Israel over its war in Gaza
Sweden authorities are preparing for mass demonstrations on Thursday and Saturday as Israel competes in the Eurovision song contest in Malmo “A lot of Swedish cities have pro-Palestinian demonstrations every weekend, but we are expecting a lot more people tomorrow ,” Pia Jacobsen, a spokesperson at Stoppa Israel, told“We have numbers everywhere between 10,000 up to 40,000, and we have buses from almost all over south of Sweden, and from Denmark, Germany, Holland, and Norway.
“We can never rule out that anything could happen,” he said, but added: “At this point there is nothing that points to the demonstrations getting out of hand or becoming violent. Campaigners have pointed to what they describe as the hypocrisy of allowing Israel to compete in Eurovision, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu comes under increasing pressure to not go ahead with a planned offensive in the southern Gazan city of Rafah.The war has killed more than 34,800 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials, and has driven some 80 per cent of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million Palestinians from their homes. About 1.3 million Palestinians have sought refuge in Rafah.
It did not stop Eric Saade, a former Swedish Eurovision contestant, from wearing a keffiyeh, a scarf associated with the Palestinian cause, around his wrist as he performed in Tuesday’s show. Afterwards, organisers said: “We regret that Eric Saade chose to compromise the non-political nature of the event.”, the first Irish Eurovision Song Contest finalist since 2018, criticised organisers for asking them to alter a pro-Palestinian message.
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