The first semi-final took place on Tuesday and ten countries advanced from it. The same number of advancers also came from Thursday’s semi-final race. Latvia, Austria, the Netherlands, Norway, Israel, Greece, Estonia, Switzerland, Georgia and Armenia have now reached the finals.
In addition to the new entrants, Germany, Sweden, Great Britain, France, Italy and Spain also completed the top 20, as they had a place in Saturday’s final secured in advance.
This year, the competition is accompanied by protests against Israel’s participation due to the devastating war waged by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip in response to a large-scale terrorist attack by the Palestinian Hamas movement on October 7 last year. Therefore, police officers from all over Sweden were called to Malmö, who were also reinforced by security forces from neighboring Denmark and Norway. When entering the arena that hosts the competition, visitors were awaited by checks similar to those at the airport. Drones were also used.
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Reuters reported that the anti-Israel protests were called for Thursday and Saturday at 15:00 CEST, among others. Swedish police expect tens of thousands of people to attend. A demonstration in support of Israel was also held on Thursday at 18:00 CET.
Eurovision has been held every year since 1956, with the exception of 2020, making it the longest-running international televised music competition. It is watched by an average of 180 million viewers every year and 52 countries have participated at least once.
Czech representative at Eurovision 2024 Aiko
Author: profimedia.cz
