World Courant
Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters marched within the Swedish port metropolis of Malmö in opposition to Israel’s participation within the pan-continental Eurovision Track Contest.
Protesters waving Palestinian flags gathered within the historic Stortorget Sq. close to Malmö’s Sixteenth-century city corridor, forward of a deliberate march by town on Thursday for a rally in a park a number of kilometers from the Eurovision Track Contest venue.
Police estimated that between 10,000 and 12,000 individuals took half. Amongst these current was Swedish local weather activist Greta Thunberg.
Chanting “from the river to the ocean, Palestine might be free” and “Israel is a terrorist state,” demonstrators lit smoke flares within the colours of the Palestinian flag throughout a loud however peaceable rally to criticize and name on Israel to a ceasefire in Gaza. . There was a big police presence, with a hovering helicopter, and officers on the roofs with binoculars.
A smaller pro-Israel protest was additionally held in a central sq. in Malmö on Thursday.
Eurovision organizers, who’re attempting to maintain the Eurovision Track Contest a non-political occasion, have rejected calls to ban Israel over its warfare on Gaza.
However they advised Israel they needed to change the textual content of their entry, initially titled October Rain, in an obvious reference to the October 7 assault led by the Palestinian group Hamas. The track was renamed Hurricane and Israeli singer Eden Golan was allowed to stay within the competitors.
Some viewers members attending a costume rehearsal on Wednesday may hear cheers throughout Golan’s efficiency. However on Thursday she received sufficient viewer votes to put within the high 10 of the 16 acts competing in a semi-final to safe a spot in Saturday’s title battle.
Critics of the choice to let Israel compete level out that Russia was kicked out of the Eurovision Track Contest in 2022 after invading Ukraine, and Belarus was expelled a yr earlier as a result of authorities’s crackdown on dissent.
Hundreds march in Malmö, Sweden in opposition to Israel’s participation within the Eurovision Track Contest | Israeli Struggle on Gaza Information
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