Eurovision 2024 highlights: Nemo, from Switzerland, wins the song contest final

The demonstration, which came two days after a similar march in Malmö that Swedish police said was attended by about 12,000 people, was the latest sign of dissatisfaction among some Eurovision fans with Israel's participation in the high-level competition due to the war in Gaza.

At Eurovision, singers representing their countries compete for the votes of music industry judges and television audiences. Although not part of Europe, Israel has competed since 1973 and won four times.

For months, pro-Palestinian groups have called on Eurovision's organizer, the European Broadcasting Union, to ban Israel from participating in the contest. Thousands of musicians, including pop stars and former Eurovision participants, have signed petitions saying there is precedent for Israel's expulsion from the event: In 2022, Eurovision banned Russia after its all-out invasion of Ukraine.

The European Broadcasting Union has repeatedly rejected the comparison and said Eurovision is a non-political competition aimed at uniting music fans, not dividing them.

At a protest on Saturday, Louay Mogari, 39, a musician wearing a jacket in the colors of the Palestinian flag, said the Israeli government was “murderers.” He added that he wanted the participants in Saturday's final to make pro-Palestinian statements from the stage “and tell the truth about Palestine.”

Compared to pro-Palestinian student protests on occupied university campuses in the United States, in which police made many arrests, the Malmö demonstrations were peaceful, with only a few police officers appearing alongside the demonstrators and little disturbances in the city centre.

A police spokesman said in an email that there were no arrests at Saturday's march.

Ulf Bereld, an expert on Swedish and Middle Eastern relations at the University of Gothenburg, said in a phone interview that many Swedes sympathize with the protesters. Berreld said there was “very strong resentment” in Swedish society toward Israel's actions in Gaza.

Since Israel invaded Gaza following the Hamas-led attacks on October 7 in which Israel estimates about 1,200 people were killed, there has been a rise in anti-Semitic hate crimes in Sweden, according to data from the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention. There were 110 incidents between October and December 2023, according to the organization He said in a recent reportUp from 24 during the same period the previous year.

Malmö is a city with a population of about 360 thousand people. A third of them were born outside Sweden, including many from the Middle East. Over the past five months, pro-Palestinian protests have taken place regularly there and in other Swedish cities.

The marches on Saturday included members Jewish uproar, a small group of Jewish activists protesting Israel's actions in Gaza. Elias Rose Gordon, 23, a member wearing a hoodie in the colors of the Palestinian flag, said Eurovision was “hypocritical” because it allowed Israel to participate in the contest when it banned Russia.

Pro-Palestinian displays were not limited to downtown Malmo on Saturday. During practice for the Eurovision finals, attendees on the Malmo Arena floor waved two Palestinian flags, according to Steve Baylis, 60, a British Eurovision fan who attended the event. Security quickly removed the item, Baylis added. (Eurovision did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but said attendees are not allowed to wave Palestinian flags or signs bearing slogans about the war between Israel and Hamas.)

Suleiman, who represents France, stopped singing during training to call for peace. He said: “I'm sorry I don't speak English well. Every artist here wants to sing about love and sing about peace.”