Protest art: Demonstrations against Israeli presence in historic "Eurovision"

This year's Eurovision contest can be regarded as the most controversial and contentious period in the history of this musical event, as protests against the presence of an Israeli representative were seen across Europe, and many Palestinian supporters in the Swedish city of Malmo, the host of this year's contest, staged demonstrations.

Thousands protested in Malmo, Sweden, on Saturday against the participation of the Israeli regime's representative in the Eurovision song contest, with Israel's military assault in Gaza casting a shadow over the glittering final of this highly anticipated event. The organizers of Eurovision, who always consider this annual event as a non-political cultural event, resisted calls for the removal of the Israeli regime's representative, but instructed the Israeli singer to change the lyrics of the song, which initially referred to the Hamas October 7 operation as "October Rain".

The composition was renamed "Hurricane" and performed by 20-year-old singer Aden Golan.

A large crowd of protesters gathered in central Malmo before marching towards the venue of the 2024 Eurovision contest, waving Palestinian flags and chanting slogans, including another slogan titled "United with Music" in a mocking reference to the official motto of the competition, " Eurovision united by genocide ". Police estimated that between 6,000 and 8,000 people joined these protests.

The Eurovision final, the climax of this music festival with its glamorous costumes, began at 7 p.m. GMT on Sunday. More than 10,000 activists supporting the Palestinian people, including prominent climate change activist Greta Thunberg, held peaceful demonstrations before the semi-finals of Eurovision on Thursday.

Pro-Palestinian protesters complained about double standards, as the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which hosts the competition, banned Russia's representative from participating in Eurovision 2022 due to that country's attack on Ukraine.

Controversy surrounding the presence of the Israeli regime's singer peaked in the final moments of the final stage, as she had not garnered significant votes from either European juries or European citizens and was in the lower ranks of the leaderboard. However, in the final stage of the public vote, 323 votes were allocated to the representative of the Zionist regime, sparking widespread protests among attendees who voiced their objections by booing the Israeli representative.

In addition, social media users expressed widespread reactions to this issue, with numerous hashtags opposing these votes trending on Twitter.