By Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen
MALMO, Sweden (Reuters) -Switzerland was leading in the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday after a partial vote count, ahead of Ireland in what remains a wide-open race as protests continued in host city Malmo over the war in Gaza.
The winner of the competition is decided by votes from television audiences in Europe and around the world in combination with juries of music professionals in each of the 37 participating countries.
The jury votes often deviate sharply from those of viewers and a majority of nations have yet to reveal their choices, meaning that much could still change.
Bookmakers have Croatia’s Baby Lasagna, whose real name is Marko Purisic, 28, with “Rim Tim Tagi Dim”, as front-runner to win the contest, followed by Israel’s Eden Golan, with her song “Hurricane”.
Booing was heard during Golan’s performance but also applause, a Reuters photographer in the auditorium said. The noise was partly audible in the broadcast viewed by tens of millions of people in Europe and around the world.
There was also booing when the points of the Israeli jury were presented.
Eurovision organisers, who bill the event as non-political, have resisted calls to exclude Israel, but requested that it change the lyrics of its entry to remove what organisers called references to the deadly Hamas attack on Oct. 7 that triggered the war.
A large crowd of protesters gathered on the central square of the Swedish host city before marching towards the contest venue, waving Palestinian flags and shouting “Eurovision united by genocide” – a twist on the contest’s official slogan “United by music”.
“This could be any other country and we would still be standing here because this is about children, men and women who have been occupied for so many years,” said one protester on Saturday, Maryam, who gave only her first name.
Police estimated that up to 8,000 people joined the protests.
DUTCH FANS DISAPPOINTED
In another Eurovision controversy this year, Dutch contestant Joost Klein was expelled on Saturday from the competition final after a complaint by a member of the production crew, the EBU said.
“While the legal process takes its course, it would not be appropriate for him (Joost) to continue in the Contest,” the EBU said in a statement.
A representative for Klein did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS, Klein was filmed despite clearly made agreements, just after getting off stage after his performance at Thursday’s semi final.
“This wasn’t respected,” AVROTROS said in a post on social media platform X, adding “This led to a threatening movement from Joost towards the camera.”
Klein did not touch the camerawoman, according to AVROTROS, who said it found the artist’s penalty “very heavy and disproportionate.”
(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen, Tom Little and Ilze Filks in Malmo, Louise Rasmussen in Copenhagen, Terje Solsvik in Oslo and Johan Ahlander in Gothenburg; Additional reporting by Toby SterlingWriting by Niklas PollardEditing by Nick Macfie, Mark Potter and Frances Kerry)
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