Protests in Madrid, Athens, Tokyo call for Gaza ceasefire
Demonstrators hold a banner reading ‘Enough of genocide, no more colonialism. Free Palestine’ in Madrid, Spain
People hold a banner in front of the Greek Parliament in Athens, Greece
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators gather in Tokyo, Japan
Thousands protest in Sweden’s Malmo against Israel’s participation in Eurovision
This demonstration is a kind of mirror image of the demonstrations that were held here in Malmo on Thursday when Israel’s singer Eden Golan performed in the semifinal of the Eurovision Song Contest and got through to the final.
Malmo has a very large Muslim population and a very large population of a Middle East diaspora.
People here are extremely angry that the European Broadcasting Union that organises Eurovision has said that Israel can participate when, for example, two years ago Russia was banned after its invasion of Ukraine.
Protesters slam ‘double standards’ over Israel’s Eurovision participation
Adel Sadat, an organiser in the Malmo demonstrations against Israel’s Eurovision participation, says there are two main reasons for the protests.
The national component was against the Swedish government and the local authorities in Malmo for allowing the Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Sweden.
And then the international, of course, we stand in solidarity with Gaza and the Palestinian people and to really show the world that this is not acceptable,” Sadat said, criticising the contest organisers’ “hypocrisy”.
“Basically, double standards for not allowing the Russians, but allowing Israel [to participate],” he said.
And for completeness sake, Westbank raids and arrests also still continue, as well as cross border attacks between Hezbollah and Israel.
TLDR: No aid, IDF expands operations to Western Rafah, no outlook on any ceasefire.