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IN PICS: Thousands protest in Malmö against Israel’s participation in Eurovision

Thousands of people joined a demonstration in Malmö on Saturday afternoon protesting Israel's participation in the Eurovision song contest.

Published: 11 May 2024 18:07 CEST
IN PICS: Thousands protest in Malmö against Israel's participation in Eurovision
Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT
The protesters gathered at Malmö’s Stortorget Square, with many waving Palestinian flags or wrapping their necks with the Keffiye, the scarf that is a symbol of the Palestinian struggle against occupation.
 
According to police, between 6,000 and 8,000 people took part in the demonstration. 

“Everything as gone according to expectations. Everything is calm and there are no disturbances so far,” Jimmy Modin, the police’s press spokesperson told Sweden’s public broadcaster SVT. 

Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT
 
Some signs reference the disqualification of the The Netherlands’ entry Joost Klein, even though the European Broadcasting Union has asserted that the member of the production team who has accused him of threatening behaviour was not connected to a national delegation in any way. 
 
 

Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT
 
The youth wing of the Left Party carried a sign saying, “Genocide: Nul points — no occupying powers at Eurovision”. 
 

Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT
 
The protesters than moved in a procession down Södergatan and Södra Förstadsgatan, Malmö’s two main pedestrianised shopping streets, to the the Triangeln shopping, before moving down towards Slottsparken, the park where the protest is due to finish. 

 

Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT
 
Members of other communities in Malmö carried banners, such as this one saying “Latinos for Palestine”. 

Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT
 
Some of Malmö’s Jewish community also joined the march, with one protester carrying a Jews for Palestine banner.  
 

Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT
 
Danish police had provided riot vans to help Swedish police control the protest, but at the time this article was posted, there had been no reports of violence. 
 

Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT

Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT

Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT

Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT
 
When the protest reached the Triangeln shopping centre it dispersed and spread out over the square in front.  
 

Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT
 
When The Local was leaving Malmö Arena in Hyllie, there were a handful of demonstrators staging an unsanctioned protest, who police were asking to stop. 
 

Photo: Richard Orange

Member comments

  1. Genocide involves the targeted annihilation on a group of people simply for being part of that group, such as what Germany did to the Jews in the Holocaust. In this case, Israel is making a retaliatory strike against a group designated as a terrorist organization by the EU. That is not genocide. Could Israel do more to protect civilians? Absolutely could, and I support any protest to that affect. Protesting Israel in general though? Nope, Israel has a right to retaliate to unprovoked massacres.

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CRIME

Two held over shooting outside Israeli embassy in Stockholm

Two people are being held in connection with a shooting outside the Israeli embassy in Stockholm in mid-May, a prosecutor said.

Published: 13 June 2024 07:12 CEST
Two held over shooting outside Israeli embassy in Stockholm

The incident prompted the country to boost security measures around Israeli interests and Jewish community institutions.

“Two people have been arrested suspected of aiding and abetting an aggravated weapons offense,” prosecutor Rasmus Öman told AFP.

Öman said he could not comment on the ages or genders of the suspects, who face questioning before a decision is made on whether to remand them in custody.

Another person had previously been arrested suspected of the same crime, but was then released.

Öman said that a 14-year-old boy was believed to have fired the weapon, but since he was under the age of criminal responsibility in Sweden he was not formally suspected of any crime.

Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023, several incidents apparently targeting Israeli interests in Sweden have been reported.

In February, police found a grenade on the grounds of the Israeli embassy compound, which the ambassador said was an attempted attack.

Last week, police said they had found a “suspected explosive object” outside the offices of Israeli military technology firm Elbit Systems, known for its unmanned aerial systems, in Sweden’s second-largest city Gothenburg.

The Scandinavian country’s intelligence agency Säpo said in late May that Iran was recruiting members of Swedish criminal gangs to commit “acts of violence” against Israeli and other interests in Sweden – a claim Iran denied.

The Nordic country has also reported an increase in anti-Semitic hate crimes since the war in Gaza started.

The war started with Hamas’s October 7th attack on southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Israel’s massive retaliatory offensive has killed at least 37,202 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

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