Pro-Palestinian demonstrators clashed with riot police in Basel as the Swiss city hosted the Eurovision Song Contest Saturday, AFP journalists at the scene witnessed.
Protesters demonstrating against Israel's participation in the contest while it ramps up its war in Gaza clashed briefly with police in the center of the city shortly before Israel's Eurovision entrant Yuval Raphael took to the stage at the St. Jakobshalle venue across town.
Blows were exchanged and police used tear gas and rolled in a water cannon truck as they strived to block demonstrators from marching through the center of the northern Swiss city, thronging with Eurovision fans.
According to Swiss news agency Keystone-ATS, the confrontation began when police intervened to stop an altercation after two men rushed towards the protesters waving Israeli flags.
Israel's National Security Council issued a warning to Israelis in Basel about the demonstration, advising them to "avoid confrontations with demonstrators and to keep Israeli identifiers low-profile in public spaces".
Amid a sea of Palestinian flags, hundreds of demonstrators, many wearing Palestinian keffiyeh scarves, carried signs stating: "No Music for Murder", "Stop Genocide", and "Singing while Gaza Burns".
Some of the protesters burned giant Israeli and US flags, while others set off red and green smoke in the air.
One woman, her face smeared with red, cradled a seemingly bloody bundle representing the children dying in the war raging in the Gaza Strip as police in riot gear looked on.
At a time when Israel is dramatically ramping up the brutal war in Gaza, the protesters were demonstrating against the participation of the Israeli act, which is among the favorites in Saturday's final.
Raphael survived the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza, hiding beneath dead bodies as Hamas gunmen attacked a music festival, killing hundreds.
During her performance of her song "New Day Will Rise" on Saturday, loud whistles could be heard in the arena, according to an AFP photographer in the hall.
There have been a number of smaller protests against Israel throughout Eurovision week in Basel, and demonstrators interrupted Raphael's act during a dress rehearsal for one of the semi-finals.
Israel launched an intensified offensive in Gaza on Saturday aimed at "the defeat of Hamas", the group that launched a deadly attack on Israel in October 2023.
The stepped-up campaign in the war that has already left tens of thousands dead came amid growing international concern over worsening humanitarian conditions in Gaza, where an Israeli aid blockade continues to restrict aid.
