Demonstration outside the town hall in Malmö. Many artists have skipped performing in the crowd program in Eurovision Street in the city. Now the organizers are moving the concerts as a result. Photo: Johan Nilsson / TT / NTB
Of NTB | 23.04.2024 10:30:55
Nature and environment: It is all the artist defections from the folk festival around the Eurovision event that is causing the host city to take a number of measures. The city of Malmö originally planned a party street called Eurovision Street, open to everyone. Now the entire music program is being moved away from there, and to Folkets park inside the Eurovision Village itself.
– We want to create a program that is experienced as fun in the park. After the defections, we had to think again, says project manager Karin Karlsson to the newspaper Southern Sweden.
More and more new artists who were booked to entertain outside the actual Eurovision event have dropped out recently. According to TT, it is a result of the war in Gaza and Israel’s participation in Eurovision.
But according to Malmö’s leader of the municipal council, Katrin Stjernfeldt Jammeh (S), there are indications that there has been “some pressure” on the artists to leave.
Due to the protests against Israel, the security work is also tightened further, but according to Karlsson, it is not the need for security checks that causes the one stage to be moved.
– It is not us who have politicized Eurovision in this way. We are just going to create the best possible Eurovision based on the prevailing conditions, and then we think this will be a good solution, says the project manager.
(© NTB)