MALMO: Police have been pushing again pro-Palestinian demonstrators across the Malmo Area in southern Sweden on Saturday (Could 11), the place the Eurovision Music Contest ultimate was happening, AFP reporters noticed.
Greater than 100 demonstrators waved flags and chanted “Free Palestine”.
Some wore keffiyeh, the Arab headdress related to the Palestinian trigger, together with some wrapping them round their faces.
Local weather activist Greta Thunberg was amongst them, however stayed away from the altercations between essentially the most aggressive protesters and the big police contingent.
She sat with different activists in a circle, however was later escorted away by police.
Within the afternoon, some 5,000 folks marched peacefully by means of town, residence to nearly all of Sweden’s inhabitants of Palestinian origin.
They have been protesting Israel’s participation within the music competitors, an annual occasion for European pop music the place organisers have insisted on being apolitical.
Across the live performance corridor, law enforcement officials have been pulling demonstrators in the direction of the numerous police vans parked within the space.
“You get the impression that they have been given carte blanche to be a bit extra aggressive than traditional,” Sarah, a 45-year-old Malmo resident informed AFP.
She had come to protest “passively”, she mentioned, including: “I’ve by no means seen something prefer it.”
The police, who confirmed that that they had used pepper gasoline, have been making an attempt to push the demonstrators again in the direction of a sq. the place a pro-Palestinian demonstration had been authorised.
“They sprayed pepper gasoline in my face, pushed me, I used to be even pulled,” Sara Bo, 26, informed AFP, exhibiting her reddened eyes.
