Eurovision crew member hit with paint as pair try to disrupt Israel performance
The incident took place as the October 7 survivor sang her entry New Day Will Rise, which was greeted with cheers and boos, as BBC Eurovision Song Contest commentator Graham Norton said there was a 'mixed response' in the arena in Basel, Switzerland.
A spokesman for Swiss broadcaster SRG SSR said: 'At the end of the Israeli performance a man and a woman tried to get over a barrier on to the stage.
'They were stopped. One of the two agitators threw paint and a crew member was hit.
'The crew member is fine and nobody was injured. The man and the woman were taken out of the venue and handed over to the police.'
Earlier, there were pro-Palestinian protests near a free concert in the centre of Basel to demonstrate against Israel's inclusion, with a small group nearby also protesting with Israeli flags.
Later the group advocating for Israel to be removed from Eurovision moved across Basel, where they were met by a significant police presence, and tear gas was seen being used.
It comes after Raphael's rehearsal for the semi-final of the competition was 'disrupted' by six people with 'oversized flags and whistles' who obstructed her act.
SRG SSR, which is organising the event in Basel after Nemo triumphed for Switzerland with The Code in Malmo 2024, said the group was quickly ejected from the St Jakobshalle arena.
A spokeswoman for SRG SSR said of the incident: 'During the dress rehearsal for the second semi-final of the ESC this afternoon, the performance of Israeli singer Yuval Raphael was disrupted.
'Six people, including a family, disrupted the rehearsal with oversized flags and whistles.
'Security personnel were able to quickly identify those involved and escort them out of the hall.
'We would like to thank all the artists, delegations, staff, fans and guests, including many children, who are making ESC 2025 a unique experience.
'At the same time, we would like to emphasise that the organisers are committed to a neutral, safe, inclusive and respectful environment at the ESC.'
Videos on social media appeared to show a large Palestinian flag being extended in the crowd across several people, while an Israeli symbol was also seen in the audience.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Examiner
5 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Home pays homage to tradition in West Cork town that hosts 'Masters of Tradition' amongst other festivals
IF ever there was a home in tune with the festival ethos of its locality, it must be this one-off in triple-festival-blessed Bantry. The house is suitably elevated above the town, at Seskin, for the best bay views. Desperately seeking Seskin 'No detail has been left to chance; it really is a gem,' says estate agent Brendan Bowe, of this 1996-built home. It integrates architectural salvage and a Georgian lodge flair in to its design and finishes to put a twist on one of Bantry's trio of summer celebrations, so it is, in its own, sweet way, a master of tradition, as per the Masters of Tradition music festival. Sweet surrounds Summer festivities, worth an impressive €5m per season to the local economy, kick off later this month (June 27 July 6) with the 30th anniversary West Cork Chamber Music Festival, which consists of 60 performances in 10 venues, from otherwise private settings to the impressive Bantry House, with its 300 years of history. Keeping up with the Joneses? Better not try with venue Bantry House... Pausing for breath for less than a week, Bantry follows with the week-long West Cork Literary Festival, which has been graced in the past by Booker Prize winners, as well as facilitating workshops for budding writers of all ages, with a now almost annual benediction from local resident, international celebrity, and best-selling author, Graham Norton. Untraditional: local resident Graham Norton is almost a hardy annual at Bantry festivals Then, after a break of a month, the vibrant cultural hub rekindles with the Masters of Tradition Irish music festival, from August 20-24. Phew. And here's just the place to enjoy future summers of music and words down in the town, in a home that itself is crying out for the adornment of an Irish harp, harpsichord, or a piano — its own forte is harking back to the past. Now an executor sale, and having been in the one set of owners' hands since it was delivered in 1996, this is a home that's otherwise hard to date, such is the attention to detail and proportion. It has a slate roof, weighted over six sliding sash windows and feature demi-lune gable windows, ornamental detailing, ceiling cornices and plasterwork, salvaged staircase and refinished old wood floors, plus fine fireplaces, including one thought to be a genuine Adam chimneypiece, in white marble with brass insert and another in pitch pine in the principal bedroom, one of four bedrooms, in a c 2,476 sq ft house. Listed with a €850,000 price guide, its selling agent, Brendan Bowe, says that it is 'a property that was meticulously planned, detailed, and appointed by its original home owners, who fastidiously set about presenting a very interesting property, with many genuine Georgian period features, to deliver a home that is, quite simply, handsome and hypnotic'. Mr Bowe highlights its gracious rooms, ornate plasterwork, wainscoting, fireplaces, Georgian fanlit door case with old brasses/ironmongery, plus further fanlight over an inner hall door, reclaimed slate roof, ornate fascias, and ochre-tinged lime harling or external render. Make a grand entrance It's set on the higher end of its 1.6 acre of grounds, all inside automated electric gates, which are useful, since staff to open up the gates to visiting charabancs and carriages can be in rather short supply at times like this, of full employment and high-minded festival fun. VERDICT: A Regency timepiece, reinterpreted.
RTÉ News
21 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Dawn French apologises for video about Israel-Hamas conflict
Comedian Dawn French has apologised after posting a video online about the Israel-Hamas conflict, saying she "clumsily used a mocking tone" and it "appeared one-sided". The Vicar of Dibley star posted a video on social media this week in which she switched between her normal voice and a higher-pitched voice. In the video about the conflict, she said: "Complicated, no, but nuanced", adding: "Bottom line is, no." Then at one point she said in a higher-pitched voice: "Yeah, but you know they did a bad thing to us." French has now posted a statement on X saying she has taken down the video and apologised, saying her intention was never "to mock, or dismiss, or diminish the horror of what happened" during Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack on Israel. The statement, posted on Saturday, said: "Ok, it's important to address this. "I posted a video in the style I've been using for social media in an effort to convey an important point. I clumsily used a mocking tone. "My intention was NEVER to mock, or dismiss, or diminish the horror of what happened on 7 October 2023 and what continues to unfold from that brutal unthinkable, unforgivable, savage attack. "My heart broke for the many innocent people and their families that were killed, tortured, r@ped (sic) and kidnapped. The fact that hostages are still held is utterly appalling. "My intention was to mock and point the finger of shame at the behaviour of the cruel leaders on ALL sides of this atrocious war, who have continued to behave like the worst, dangerous, sickening bullies and seem to relish the tyrannical and childish oneupmanship of the violence. THEY were my target, but clearly I failed to do that, and that's on me. I apologise unreservedly. I'm particularly sorry that my disgust at Hamas didn't figure. It appeared one-sided, and that is wrong. "I am a person, who like many others, is feeling increasingly helpless and hopeless as we witness the carnage and destruction worsen. The images of starving and wounded children have haunted me day and night. History has taught us never to stand by and allow this kind of inhumane violence to be wrought on anyone, especially innocent children. "I have felt my silence is complicit or even somehow sanctioning. So in my small way I wanted to voice my desire to say NO - to BOTH sides - to any further violence. "I hope you will understand my intention was not to offend, but clearly I have. For which I'm sorry and I have removed the video." Of the 251 hostages taken during Hamas's attack that triggered the Gaza war, 55 remain in captivity, including 31 the Israeli military says are dead. The 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to AFP calculations of official figures. According to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, at least 54,677 people have been killed in the territory since the start of the war, also mostly civilians.
Irish Examiner
2 days ago
- Irish Examiner
Film review: Documentary executive produced by Macklemore 'a gripping account of speaking truth to power'
Dangerous Animals ★★★☆☆ Humans are the most rapacious predators on the planet, of course, but what if a human was to double down on his lethal potential by teaming up with a shark? That's the basic idea behind Dangerous Animals (16s), which stars Hassie Harrison as Zephyr, an American surfer bumming around Australia chasing the next big wave. Enter Tucker (Jai Courtney), a bluff and good-natured captain of a charter boat that allows tourists to swim with sharks from the safety of an iron cage. In his downtime, alas, Tucker has a nasty habit of abducting young women and spiriting them off to sea before feeding them to the sharks and recording the ensuing carnage. But when he kidnaps Zephyr off a quiet beach in the early hours before dawn, Tucker has no idea that he has bitten off more than even his beloved sharks can chew… Written by Nick Lepard and directed by Sean Byrne, Dangerous Animals offers a nautical variation on Australia's fascination with the lunatic Outback killer. Hassie Harrison in Dangerous Animals (2025) As always, we are given very little by way of the killer's motivation – Tucker, we learn early, is a shark attack survivor, although that hardly explains his misogynistic obsession with cold-bloodedly murdering young women in such a grisly fashion. And grisly it most definitely is: the scene in which Zephyr's fellow captive Heather (Ella Newton) dies in the midst of a feeding frenzy is deeply disturbing, and not least because it's being filmed for the purpose of entertainment. Nick Lepard and Sean Byrne may well be making a point here about the wholesale slaughter of young women in exploitative horror flicks; if they are, it's clumsily made and gratuitously gruesome. That said, Jai Courtney is charmingly avuncular (at least initially) as the psychopathic Tucker, although Hassie Harrison makes a much more impressive splash as the smart, tough and brilliantly resourceful Zephyr. (theatrical release) The Encampments ★★★★★ The Encampments (12A) is a documentary by Kei Pritsker and Michael T. Workman that opens in April 2024 with students on the lawn of Columbia University protesting the slaughter in Gaza, declaring their solidarity with Palestine, and demanding that the university divest the portion of its endowments that is invested in US and Israeli weapons companies. The protest goes viral, resulting in encampments springing up in universities all over America and further afield, but the majority of the film plays out at Columbia, where the students quickly find themselves besieged by the university administration, the NYPD and those in the media who allege antisemitism and terrorism. Linking the events to similar, anti-Vietnam War protests at Columbia in 1968, Pritsker and Workman provide context with a potted history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since 1948, and also include heart-breaking footage from the war in Gaza. It can be argued that the filmmakers, who make no secret of the fact that they were embedded with the protestors, are offering only one side of this particular story; nevertheless, The Encampments is a gripping account of speaking truth to power. (theatrical release) Juliet and Romeo ★★☆☆☆ Juliet and Romeo (12A) stars Clara Rugaard and Jamie Ward as the star-crossed lovers, although writer-director Timothy Scott Bogart substitutes contemporary speech for Shakespeare's poetry, inserts a number of rousing (if rather bland) pop anthems into the story, and provides a backdrop of imminent invasion to add spice to Verona's long-running civil war between Capulet and Montague. Juliet & Romeo, the pop musical, stars Clara Rugaard as Juliet and Jamie Ward as Romeo. It's a bold attempt at a modern makeover, and there's some interesting character actors in the supporting roles: Rupert Everett delivers an arch Lord Capulet, Derek Jacobi hams it up unmercifully as Friar Lawrence, while Jason Isaacs mooches around in the background muttering Lord Montague's premonitions of impending doom. The leads, alas, lack chemistry. Clara Rugaard shines as the irreverent Juliet, but Jamie Ward is vacuous as Romeo, and overall the timeless tragedy of fair Verona is largely reduced to an extended '80s pop video. (theatrical release)
