British protesters try to storm stage during Israel's Eurovision performance
A British man and woman have been arrested for trying to storm the stage during Israel's Eurovision performance in Switzerland on Saturday.
Video shows a man yelling 'Free Palestine' during Yuval Raphael's performance in St Jakobshalle Arena, in Basel, before he and a woman try to breach the security barrier. They were allegedly stopped by security guards before they could reach the stage.
'At the end of the Israeli performance, a man and a woman tried to get over a barrier onto the stage. They were stopped. One of the two agitators threw paint and a crew member was hit,' a spokesman for Swiss broadcaster SRG SSR said.
The suspects were named by Swiss police as David Curry, 22, from Manchester and Meaghan Leon, 27, from London, according to Youth Demand, which organised the demonstration and campaigns for the UK to stop arming Israel.
According to SRG SSR's spokesman, they were taken out of the venue and 'handed over to the police'.
Israel's entries at Eurovision have sparked protests from pro-Palestinian groups since war broke out in Gaza. The groups have urged the European Broadcasting Union to exclude the country from the competition over the brutality of its offensive in Gaza, where more than 50,000 people have been killed, according to local health authorities.
Around 200 protesters mounted a demonstration in Basel on Saturday evening, while two protesters attempted to get on to the stage during Raphael's performance but were halted by security officials. Nobody was injured.
Credit: Youth Demand
Ahead of her performance, Yuval described in an interview with BBC how it was 'scary at times, even uncomfortable, but it makes me keep reminding myself why I'm here and my agenda, which is spreading as much love as I can and bringing pride to my country.'
Yuval came in second in this year's Eurovision Finale, winning the public vote by a large margin.
The 24-year-old singer survived the Nova Music festival massacre on October 7 by hiding under dead bodies in a bomb shelter for hours.
She spoke about her experience at the UN Human Rights Council, but refrained from talking about it ahead of the song contest in interviews with international media, fearing it would violate the strict guidelines put in place by Eurovision on anything deemed political.
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