The completed Eurovision stage at Malmo Arena is shown at a press conference in Malmo, Sweden on April 25, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Organisers of the Eurovision Song Contest said on May 2 they reserve the right to remove any Palestinian flags and pro-Palestinian symbols at the show next week in Sweden.

The announcement came amid heightened tensions surrounding Israel’s participation in the annual music competition over its military campaign against Hamas in Gaza, now in its seventh month. Pro-Palestinian groups are expected to stage large protests in Malmo to raise awareness of their cause.

Michelle Roverelli, the head of communications for the European Broadcasting Union that runs the show each year, said ticket buyers are only allowed to bring and display flags that represent countries that take part in the event, as well as the rainbow-colored flag.

Also Read: Bloody Thursday: On Israel’s war and the situation in Gaza

The Geneva-based EBU reserves the right “to remove any other flags or symbols, clothing, items and banners being used for the likely purpose of instrumentalizing the TV shows,” she told The Associated Press in a text message.

Swedish news agency TT reported that the anyone who tries to bring a Palestinian flag or a sign with a political message will be stopped at the entrance by guards.

Martin Österdahl, the contest’s Executive Supervisor told TT that “these rules are the same as last year. There is no change.”

National flags are a common sight during the contest as fans cheer on their country’s acts and those they support.

The glitzy gala, which draws hundreds of millions of viewers each year, is hosting the event from May 7-11 in Malmo in southern Sweden, following last year’s victory by Loreen for its performance of “Tattoo” last year.

Winners earn the right for their country to host the following year’s event: Sweden is set to host for a record-equalling 7th time.

Swedish police have warned that security will be tight, citing a threat of terrorism in the wealthy Nordic country.

Pro-Palestinian activists who want Israel — a former winner — out of the Eurovision Song Contest have announced large rallies in downtown Malmo, several kilometers (miles) from the Malmo Arena contest venue.

Last month Swedish police said they had received an application for a demonstration in Malmo to burn a copy of the Quran before the contest. Sweden raised its terror threat level last year following a series of burnings of the Quran that triggered protests in the Muslim world.

In recent weeks, spillover reaction around the world to the nearly 7-month war between Israel and Hamas has fanned large protests on U.S. university campuses and beyond.

Washington:

Security was tight Saturday as the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner kicked off, with President Joe Biden to make what is a traditionally lighthearted address amid protests and boycott calls over the conflict in Gaza.

A long list of VIP guests, including journalists and celebrities from Chris Pine to Molly Ringwald, arrived in black-tie attire as more than 100 protesters outside the Washington Hilton hotel chanted “shame on you” and other slogans while confronting attendees.

At the banquet, in keeping with longstanding tradition — interrupted during the Donald Trump years — Biden was seated on the dais ahead of the evening’s comedy roast, this year to be delivered by Colin Jost of “Saturday Night Live.”

Biden’s every move has been shadowed for months by protesters angry over US support for the Israeli military offensive in Gaza. He has been met by shouts of “Genocide Joe” and noisy calls for an immediate ceasefire.

Protesters at one point unfurled an enormous, multi-story Palestinian flag from a window on the hotel’s top floor, as others congregated on the road below holding placards, chanting and shouting from bullhorns.

More than two dozen Palestinian journalists this week issued an open letter urging their American colleagues to boycott the dinner. 

“You have a unique responsibility to speak truth to power and uphold journalistic integrity,” said the letter. “It is unacceptable to stay silent out of fear or professional concern while journalists in Gaza continue to be detained, tortured and killed for doing our jobs.”

According to the New York-based Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ), at least 97 journalists — including 92 Palestinians — have been killed since war erupted on October 7 with Hamas’s invasion of southern Israel. At least 16 others have been wounded. 

The group Code Pink, part of an anti-war coalition, said it intended to “shut down” the dinner to protest “the complicity of the Biden administration in the targeting and killing of Palestinian journalists by the Israeli military.” 

It said its action would be “non-violent” but offered no details.

The Washington Metropolitan Police Department told AFP it was “prepared to facilitate any safe and peaceful demonstration” but that guests would also be able to access the event.

The gala dinner and a surrounding series of society events are taking place as the Gaza protest movement has been spreading to colleges across the country, and as police crackdowns on some campuses have led to hundreds of arrests. 

Comedian Jost, a longtime writer and actor with NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” was seated next to Biden on the dais as the dinner got underway. His wife, actress Scarlett Johansson, was also in attendance.

The 81-year-old Biden will follow Jost’s roast with his own speech, sure to include some self-mockery, some ribbing of the press and, no doubt, some sharp-elbowed jabs at Trump, his presumptive opponent in November’s presidential election. 

The annual dinner has been organized since 1920 by the influential White House Correspondents’ Association, which honors top reporters and awards journalism scholarships.

Last year, 2,600 people attended.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Columbia’s embattled president came under renewed pressure on Friday as a university oversight committee met to address her attempt two weeks ago to clamp down on protests that have roiled the Ivy League school and spread across the country and aboard.

President Nemat Minouche Shafik faced an outcry from many students, faculty and outside observers for summoning New York police to campus on April 18 to dismantle an encampment of tents set up by protesters against Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

Police arrested more than 100 people that day and removed the tents from the main lawn of the school’s Manhattan campus, but the protesters quickly returned and set up the encampment again, narrowing Columbia’s options on shutting down the protest.

Since then, hundreds of protesters have been arrested at schools from California to Boston as students set up encampments similar to the one at Columbia, demanding that their schools divest from companies involved in Israel’s military.

Like-minded protests against Israel’s actions have spread overseas, as well, with tensions flaring in front of Paris’ prestigious Sciences Po university on Friday as pro-Israeli protesters came to challenge pro-Palestinian students occupying the building. Police had to move in to keep the two sides apart.

At Columbia, the university senate will hold a hearing on Friday afternoon to vote on a resolution about the president’s actions that could range from an expression of displeasure to an outright censure.

The White House has defended free speech on campus, but Democratic President Joe Biden denounced “antisemitic protests” this week and stressed that campuses must be safe.

Some Republicans in Congress have accused Shafik and other university administrators of being too soft on protesters and allowing Jewish students to be harassed on their campuses.

After failing to squelch the protests two weeks ago, Columbia administrators have turned to negotiating with students, so far without success. The school has set two deadlines for an agreement this week – the latest at 4 a.m. on Friday – both of which came and went without a deal being struck.

“The talks have shown progress and are continuing as planned,” Shafik’s office wrote in a brief email to the university community late on Thursday night. “We have our demands; they have theirs. A formal process is under way and continues.”

TEXAS CLASH

The president of the University of Texas at Austin, Jay Hartzell, faced a similar backlash from faculty on Friday, two days after he joined with Republican Governor Greg Abbott in calling in police to break up a pro-Palestinian protest.

Dozens of protesters were arrested but charges against most were dropped the next day.

Nearly 200 members of the faculty at the university signed a letter dated April 25, saying they have no confidence in Hartzell after he “needlessly put students, staff and faculty in danger” when hundreds of officers clad in riot gear and on horseback swept away the protests.

Hartzell in a statement said he made the decision on grounds that protest organizers aimed to “severely disrupt” the campus for a long period.

The clash in Texas was one of many that broke out this week between demonstrators and police summoned by university leaders, who say encampments constitute unauthorized protests, jeopardize the safety of students, and at times, subject Jewish students to antisemitism and harassment.

Civil rights groups have condemned the arrests and urged authorities to respect free speech rights. The activists behind the protests say their aim is to pressure schools to divest from companies that contribute to Israeli military actions in Gaza, and blame any hostile behavior on outsiders seeking to hijack the movement.

While Columbia remains the epicenter of the student protest movement, the national spotlight has shifted to new campuses – from the University of Southern California (USC) to Atlanta’s Emory University to Boston’s Emerson College – nearly every day this week. USC this week canceled its main May 10 graduation ceremony, saying newly required security measures would have placed excessive delays on crowd control.

On Friday, about 200 protesters gathered at George Washington University, a few blocks from the White House, carrying “Free Palestine” posters, wearing black and white Palestinian keffiyehs and chanting slogans.

“We will pursue disciplinary actions against the GW students involved in these unauthorized demonstrations that continue to disrupt university operations,” the university said.

Authorities also began making arrests at a protest encampment at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, on Friday.

A livestream by the organizer showed dozens of demonstrators setting up tents on lawns on campus. Police moved in within half an hour, telling protesters they could not camp there but could stay if they didn’t have tents

California’s Cal Poly Humboldt, a public university in Arcata, said it had shut down its campus through the weekend and moved all classes online, as protesters continued a weeklong occupation of a school building.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

A video circulating online shows two anti-Israel protesters at New York University struggling to explain the purpose of the demonstrations. The clip, posted on X by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, shows a young woman at an NYU protest site fumbling when asked “why” they were there.

“I think the main goal is just showing our support for Palestine and demanding that NYU stop…I honestly don’t know all of what NYU is doing,” she admitted.

When asked if there was “something NYU is doing,” the student responded, “I really don’t know, I’m pretty sure they are.” 

Turning to her friend, she asked if she knew what NYU was doing? The friend, wearing a mask, responded, “About what?” The first woman then asked, “About Israel. Why are we protesting, here at NYU specifically?” The friend responded, “I wish I was more educated.” 

The first student said she came from Columbia: “We came down, they said NYU needed our support. I’ve heard there are lot of cops and people were saying it was getting dangerous.”

????VIDEO: A REAL interview we had at NYU:

QUESTION: “Why are you protesting?”

PROTESTER #1: “I don’t know. I’m pretty sure there’s something about Israel [turns to other person] Why are we protesting?”

PROTESTER #2: “I wish I was more educated.”

PROTESTER #1: “I’m not either.” pic.twitter.com/8aB2ZoTCCk

— Rudy W. Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) April 24, 2024

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani commented on the video, saying, “The young woman in this video is the perfect example of the modern American Left and their indoctrination of young people. They don’t know what they’re doing and are serving as tools to something much more sinister,” reported Fox News. “She’s just one of many examples of the deterioration of our education system here in America,” he said. 

The protester in the video is a Fordham University student, who traveled to Columbia and NYU to support other demonstrators. More than 150 protesters at NYU were arrested on Monday. However, protests continued at NYU on Wednesday following a walkout the day before.

Students at universities across the US are staging encampments to protest the war in Gaza and US support for Israel. Alongside calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, students are demanding an end to US military aid to Israel and university disinvestments from companies benefitting from the conflict. They are also seeking relief for students and faculty disciplined or fired for taking part in anti-Israel protests. 

New Delhi:

There should be a right balance of freedom of expression and a sense of responsibility, the government has said about the pro-Palestine protests raging at top US universities. The protests, which demand divestment from Israel-linked entities, have forced several universities to switch to virtual classes and led to confrontations between students and the police.

Asked about the protests, foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said they are always in touch with Indian students studying in US universities.

“We have seen reports on the matter and have been following related events. In every democracy, there has to be the right balance between freedom of expression, a sense of responsibility and public safety and order. Democracies in particular should display this understanding in regard to other fellow democracies. After all, we are all judged by what we do at home and not what we say abroad,” said Mr Jaiswal.

He also said that if there are issues linked to Indian students that have to be resolved, authorities will look into those.

India supports a two-nation solution to the Israel-Palestine issue, which includes the establishment of a sovereign state of Palestine with recognized borders.

The White House, too, yesterday said President Biden backed free speech and debate on college campuses.

Pro-Palestine protests denouncing the rising deaths in Gaza, which began at the Columbia University last week, have spread to more campuses across the US, the strongest ally of Israel. Over a hundred students have been arrested for campus occupation, which Jewish students claim to be antisemitic.

The protesting students demand a ceasefire to the war, an end to US military aid to Israel, and the withdrawal of university investments from arms suppliers and companies benefiting the war.

At Columbia University, over 100 students were arrested after a pro-Palestine rally was dispersed by the cops last week. Amid spiralling tensions, it cancelled in-person classes last Monday and switched to virtual learning. House Speaker Mike Johnson, who visited the Columbia campus on Wednesday, faced jeers that he denounced as a “mob rule” and “virus of antisemitism”.

At the University of Texas in Austin, police in riot gear were deployed to face off with students who walked out chanting “down with occupation”. Over 20 protesters were arrested during the protests on Wednesday. Fifty more protesters were arrested at the University of California in Los Angeles and another 130 at the New York University.

Protests have also erupted at Yale, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), UC Berkeley, the University of Michigan, and Brown. At Harvard and other top universities, students have been setting up tents on the campus as part of an encampment exercise to protest the Gaza deaths.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had condemned the protests at US colleges as “horrific” and said “antisemitic mobs have taken over leading universities.”

New Delhi:

There should be a right balance of freedom of expression and a sense of responsibility, the government has said about the pro-Palestine protests raging at top US universities. The protests, which demand divestment from Israel-linked entities, have forced several universities to switch to virtual classes and led to confrontations between students and the police.

Asked about the protests, foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said they are always in touch with Indian students studying in US universities.

“We have seen reports on the matter and have been following related events. In every democracy, there has to be the right balance between freedom of expression, a sense of responsibility and public safety and order. Democracies in particular should display this understanding in regard to other fellow democracies. After all, we are all judged by what we do at home and not what we say abroad,” said Mr Jaiswal.

He also said that if there are issues linked to Indian students that have to be resolved, authorities will look into those.

India supports a two-nation solution to the Israel-Palestine issue, which includes the establishment of a sovereign state of Palestine with recognized borders.

The White House, too, yesterday said President Biden backed free speech and debate on college campuses.

Pro-Palestine protests denouncing the rising deaths in Gaza, which began at the Columbia University last week, have spread to more campuses across the US, the strongest ally of Israel. Over a hundred students have been arrested for campus occupation, which Jewish students claim to be antisemitic.

The protesting students demand a ceasefire to the war, an end to US military aid to Israel, and the withdrawal of university investments from arms suppliers and companies benefiting the war.

At Columbia University, over 100 students were arrested after a pro-Palestine rally was dispersed by the cops last week. Amid spiralling tensions, it cancelled in-person classes last Monday and switched to virtual learning. House Speaker Mike Johnson, who visited the Columbia campus on Wednesday, faced jeers that he denounced as a “mob rule” and “virus of antisemitism”.

At the University of Texas in Austin, police in riot gear were deployed to face off with students who walked out chanting “down with occupation”. Over 20 protesters were arrested during the protests on Wednesday. Fifty more protesters were arrested at the University of California in Los Angeles and another 130 at the New York University.

Protests have also erupted at Yale, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), UC Berkeley, the University of Michigan, and Brown. At Harvard and other top universities, students have been setting up tents on the campus as part of an encampment exercise to protest the Gaza deaths.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had condemned the protests at US colleges as “horrific” and said “antisemitic mobs have taken over leading universities.”

Pro-Palestine encampments at Columbia University in the US are still going strong, despite 108 students being arrested and three suspended last week. Contrary to what the police’s sweep of the encampments had hoped to achieve, the crackdown has simply stoked the fires of dissent.

Students from several other universities in the US have followed suit, setting up their own encampments, occupying buildings, and holding rallies.

Amid growing demands of divesting from Israel and a ceasefire in Gaza, prestigious schools like Yale, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and New York University (NYU) have been trying to suppress these protests, but have failed. 

Pro-Palestinian demonstrations have also been ongoing at universities like UC Berkeley and the University of Michigan.

Tensions at Columbia University continue to run high as students refuse to comply with demands to vacate their encampments. Negotiations to reach a deal between the administration and protesters have been unsuccessful.

As a result, authorities announced that classes will be switched to a hybrid learning mode till the end of the Spring semester, ending next week.

These protests have catalysed the eruption of student-led pro-Palestine movements nationwide.

At New York University, 133 protesters were taken into custody after they allegedly threw bottles at the police, who were tasked to clear the encampments. They have since been released with a summons to appear in court on charges of disorderly conduct.

Calling the arrests “outrageous”, Byul Yoon, an NYU law student exasperatedly asks, “Why are we not allowed to be here? Why are we not allowed to express ourselves?”.

Reiterating the protesters’ demands, she said, “We’re here to maintain a presence and to demand that the university divest from weapons corporations and from the Israeli occupation.”

MIT student Quinn Perian delved into the school’s involvement in the violence unfolding in Gaza, explaining, “They’ve [MIT] had over $11 million allocated in investments for projects directly relating to the Israeli Ministry of Defense in the past decade. MIT is building the weapons that Israel and the Israeli military are using to terrorise and to bomb the Palestinians in Gaza.” 

UC Berkeley Student and Protest Organizer Malak Afaneh echoed the resolve of protesters, claiming, “Quite frankly, we’re going to be here until we achieve divestment. We’re willing to risk suspension. We’re willing to risk expulsion. We’re willing to risk arrest.”

At Yale University, protesters declined negotiations with the administration, which asked them to end demonstrations, leave the encampments, and meet with the school’s trustees. After defying several warnings, the administration authorised police to clear encampments. About 60 protesters, of which 47 were students, were arrested. 

Harvard University also took preventive measures by locking most gates into its famed Harvard Yard and limiting access to those with school identification. Signs were also posted that warn against setting up tents or tables without permission. Despite these, encampments have been set up and protests are ongoing.

Following this, the student group ‘Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee’ was suspended for violating university policies.

It is unlikely that the protests will be snubbed anytime soon. Resistance continues to soar as every attempt to suppress protesters is leading to more disillusioned individuals joining the pro-Palestinian cause.