Eurovision Protester Speaks Out After Viral Clip Sparks Anger Over Security 'Aggression'

Israel's Yuval Raphael performing during Saturday night's Eurovision finalThe protesters who were removed from this year’s Eurovision final have spoken out after a video of one of them being roughly handled by the event’s security time was widely shared on social media.Eurovision bosses have confirmed that two people were removed from the arena in Basel, Switzerland on Saturday night, after they “tried to get over a barrier onto the stage” during the Israeli act’s performance.A spokesperson explained: “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.”A video appearing to show one of them being accosted by security has accrued hundreds of thousands of views on X at the time of writing, with many criticising the team member’s heavy-handed approach.Eurovision security assaulting a demonstrator to protect their genocide barbie on stage #escpic.twitter.com/43J7kx10pI— Shukri Lawrence (@wifiridershukri) May 17, 2025The pair – who have identified themselves as David and Meaghan from the activism group Youth Demand – posted their own video on Sunday evening.In the two-minute video, Meaghan said that they had taken action “against Israeli participation, and, most importantly, the Israeli genocide”.“Naturally, I was terrified in the build-up to this action, I’d been anxious for weeks,” she explained. “But, all that gives me strength is knowing that we did this for the people of Palestine, and that grounds me.”David – who was featured in the viral clip – continued: “Just before the Israeli performer came on, a load of extra security was rolled out, so our plan slightly went out of the window.“But regardless, we still hopped over the barrier and attempted to disrupt the performance in whatever non-violent means we could. On the other side of the barrier, we were faced with pretty grim aggression from the security, Eurovision staff and then, later on, the police.”He added: “Understandably, we’ve seen a lot of anger about this aggression, which we appreciate and understand. However, we ask that people direct this anger towards the Israeli State, which is still committing a genocide in Palestine [...] and also to the British government, who are actively arming this, despite the fact that the majority of the British public are against arming Israel. It’s a complete joke, and that’s where our anger should be focussed.”📢 HEAR FROM MEAGHAN AND DAVID WHO DISRUPTED ISRAEL’S EUROVISION PERFORMANCELast night, Meaghan and David jumped the barriers during Israel’s performance at the live Eurovision finale to attempt to run on the stage. Security was seen on a shocking viral video assaulting them.… pic.twitter.com/mP7YWRcrMw— Youth Demand (@youth_demand) May 18, 2025HuffPost UK has contacted Eurovision for comment.A spokesperson for the Swiss police previously said that it would be up to the contest’s organisers to determine whether they wanted to press charges against the two demonstrators.Israel’s involvement in Eurovision has been a contentious issue for a number of years due to the conflict in Gaza, with the Palestine-led BDS movement calling for a boycott in the last two years.This year, Israel was represented by Yuval Raphael, a survivor of the October 2023 terrorist attack by Hamas at the Nova music festival.Yuval and the Israeli delegation were met with jeers from protesters upon their arrival at the official Eurovision launch earlier this month, with Israel’s public broadcaster Kan later making an official complaint to Swiss police after an alleged threatening gesture was made towards her by someone in the cwrod.Speaking to BBC News, Yuval said last week that this first day of Eurovision had been “frightening, even at times uncomfortable” and like her predecessor, Eden Golan, she maintained a low profile in the days before her semi-final performance, doing only a handful of media appearances and interviews.She also claimed she was “expecting” boos, and had been preparing for a variety of distractions during her rehearsals.It was later revealed that six pro-Palestine protesters were removed from the arena after attempting to disrupt Yuval’s dress rehearsal before the Eurovision semi-finals on Thursday.Yuval finished in second place on Saturday night behind Austria’s JJ, although Israel did manage to secure the most points from Eurovision televoters.MORE EUROVISION:This Is Why This Year's Eurovision Song Contest Was So Controversial Once Again'I Was Never As Overwhelmed As I Was At Eurovision': Former Winner Nemo Reflects On Their 'Whirlwind' ExperienceRemember Monday Speak Out On Their Eurovision Experience After Getting Zero Points From Viewers

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