Organizers of Eurovision Music Contest able to take away Palestinian flags or symbols

 Organizers of Eurovision Music Contest able to take away Palestinian flags or symbols


GENEVA — Organizers of the Eurovision Music Contest stated Thursday they reserve the precise to take away any Palestinian flags and pro-Palestinian symbols on the present subsequent week in Sweden.

The announcement got here amid heightened tensions surrounding Israel’s participation within the annual music competitors over its navy marketing campaign towards Hamas in Gaza, now in its seventh month. Professional-Palestinian teams are anticipated to stage massive protests in Malmo to lift consciousness of their trigger.

Michelle Roverelli, the top of communications for the European Broadcasting Union that runs the present annually, stated ticket holders are solely allowed to deliver and show flags representing nations that participate within the occasion, in addition to the rainbow-colored flag.

The Geneva-based EBU reserves the precise “to take away another flags or symbols, clothes, gadgets and banners getting used for the possible function of instrumentalizing the TV reveals,” she informed The Related Press in a textual content message.

Swedish information company TT reported that the anybody who tries to deliver a Palestinian flag or an indication with a political message shall be stopped on the entrance by guards.

Martin Österdahl, the competition’s govt supervisor, informed TT that “these guidelines are the identical as final 12 months. There isn’t a change.”

Nationwide flags are a standard sight throughout the contest as followers cheer on their nation’s acts and people they assist.

The glitzy gala, which attracts a whole lot of hundreds of thousands of viewers annually, is held this 12 months from Might 7-11 in Malmo in southern Sweden, following final 12 months’s victory by Loreen for its efficiency of “Tattoo” final 12 months.

Winners earn the precise for his or her nation to host the next 12 months’s occasion: Sweden is about to host for a record-equalling seventh time.

Swedish police have warned that safety shall be tight, citing a menace of terrorism within the rich Nordic nation.

Professional-Palestinian activists who need Israel — a former winner — out of the Eurovision Music Contest have introduced massive rallies in downtown Malmo, a number of kilometers (miles) from the Malmo Enviornment contest venue.

Israel’s nationwide safety council on Thursday issued a warning urging folks to rethink journey to Malmo, saying it’s “a spotlight for anti-Israel protests” that embrace calls to assault Israelis and the burning of Israeli flags.

“These developments increase the tangible concern that terrorists will exploit the protest and the anti-Israel environment to hold out an assault on Israelis who will arrive for the Eurovision,” it stated.

On Thursday, Swedish police stated they granted permission to demonstrators planning to burn a duplicate of the Quran in Malmo earlier than the competition. Such rallies are allowed in Sweden, and police must cite particular grounds, akin to dangers to public security, in the event that they need to reject a allow for an illustration or public gathering.

Final 12 months, Sweden raised its terror menace degree final 12 months following a collection of burnings of the Quran that triggered protests within the Muslim world.

In current weeks, spillover response around the globe to the practically 7-month struggle between Israel and Hamas has fanned massive protests on U.S. college campuses and past.

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Olsen reported from Copenhagen, Denmark. Joe Federman contributed from Jerusalem



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