Organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest said Thursday that 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 war against Hamas in Gaza, now in its seventh month. Pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel groups are expected to stage large protests in Malmo alongside the event.
Michelle Roverelli, the head of communications for the European Broadcasting Union, which runs the show each year, said ticketholders are only allowed to bring and display flags that represent countries that take part in the event, as well as the rainbow-colored LGBT flag.
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.
She was responding after Swedish newspaper Goteborgs-Posten reported Thursday that contest organizers had banned Palestinian flags and political banners at the event.
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 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-tying 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.
The war in Gaza erupted after Hamas’s October 7 massacre, which saw some 3,000 terrorists burst across the border into Israel by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 253 hostages amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.