A massive rally at the gates of the Mälmo Arena against Israel’s participation puts the broadcast of the Eurovision final in danger.
A few hours before the contest begins in the Swedish city, thousands of people with Palestinian flags have gathered there, as happened on Thursday, to pressure the EBU and obtain the expulsion of the Russian-Israeli singer Eden Golan .
The contest has been involved in several controversies due to Israel’s participation. This Saturday, the representative of Ireland, Bambie Thug, set off all the alarms by not participating in the last rehearsal of the grand final due to “a situation” that occurred at the beginning of it and which required an urgent meeting with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
“A situation has arisen while we were waiting to jump on stage and participate in the parade of artists, which is why I required urgent attention from the EBU. “She has taken this matter seriously and we have discussed what action to take,” the artist explained on her social networks and has not made clear her participation in tonight’s final.
But Ireland was not the only absence in the parade of artists before rehearsals. The representatives of Greece and Switzerland, Marina Satti and Nemo, have also not jumped on stage for their rehearsal.
These absences also occur just after the representative of the Netherlands, Joost Klein, has been disqualified from Eurovision for an “incident” with a person from the production that is being investigated by the Swedish Police.
The controversy began with a press conference after the second semifinal in which the candidates from Greece, Switzerland and the Netherlands participated along with the representative of Israel, whose presence throughout the festival has been highly contested by her country’s military offensive. in Gaza.
The Eurovision organization is holding an emergency meeting this afternoon due to the reactions generated by the disqualification of the representative of the Netherlands, Joost Klein, due to an investigation into alleged threats by the Swedish police. Likewise, Israeli television has confirmed that the organization of the event has moved them to a room separated from the rest of the delegations.