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Eurovision 2024: “Can’t guarantee safety but do everything we can!” | Police ahead of Eurovision

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Now it’s only a month left before the world’s biggest music festival, the Eurovision Song Contest, which will be held in Malmö, Sweden. And preparations are in full swing so that the competition can be carried out with the best possible safety.

Petra Stenkulla is the police area manager in Malmö and was interviewed on P1-Morgon of Sveriges Radio by reporter August Haskbom. Petra comments on the situation:

“It is of course the case that Sweden has a terror threat level of four out of five. And that means that we need to intensify our work together with the security police. But really, you can say that all types of events where there are very many people in the same place always pose a certain risk and that means that we need to take measures to have many police officers and have good planning for anything that could happen, even if it is an accident or anything at all.”

In a time with high terrorist threat, Israel‘s participation has aroused strong reactions and with up to one hundred thousand visitors, the city of Malmö is still planning on an open event. Petra Stenkulla adds:

“Our ambition is for it to be a festive event where people can still feel safe and have fun. Right now, we’re planning for it to be an open event that is happening in several different places. There will be events and people need to be able to move between them. And this is part of our planning.”

In safety planning, the City of Malmö and the police have had frequent communication with last year’s host city, Liverpool.  And Petra Stenkulla thinks that a good plan has been formed for this year’s music competition:

“We can never guarantee safety but we will do our upmost to make people feel safe. And we can also assume that there will be both rumor spreading and other factors that will lead to, for example, threats that we need to assess. But we will continue to work with this, we have a solid plan and we feel confident with that plan. So that everyone can feel comfortable.”

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding this year’s Eurovision Song Contest to be held this May in Malmö, Sweden and any security updates regarding its planning!

Source: Sveriges Radio/P1 Morgon/August Haskbom/Ekot
Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT

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Eurovision 2024: City of Malmö working hard for a safe Eurovision!

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Malmö is currently evaluating the current situation caused by the ongoing Middle-Eastern conflict, hence, is discussing the ways of making the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest as safe as possible.

Israel‘s confirmed participation in Eurovision is stirring emotional protests around Europe. Intensive work is being done on security for the Eurovision Song Contest, to be held this May in Malmö, Sweden. Ulf Nilsson, the Head of Security and Preparedness at the city of Malmö., said on an interview with P4 Malmöhus:

“Many people are contributing to make this a reputation-proof event. We’re broadly working with many different scenarios. We’re working very closely with the police, SVT, Region Skåne, the Traffic Department.”

Last weekend, a Eurovision sign outside Malmö Live was vandalized and has now been protected with wax. The vandalism was discovered in the early hours of the morning. On the base of the sign, someone has written “Free Gaza” and smeared it with red paint. Even on the digital sign that says “United by music” and “We are one“, someone has thrown paint.

Several individuals have already applied for permission from the police to demonstrate during Eurovision in protest against Israel and their Eurovision Song Contest participation.

“We see that many have opinions about Israel’s participation and we understand that. We’re closely monitoring the situation. Of course, this will be taken into account in our work.”

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding this year’s Eurovision Song Contest to be held next May in Malmö, Sweden!

Source: Sveriges Radio/P4 Malmöhus/Sofie Dahlstedt

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Sweden: Security planning for Eurovision 2024 in Malmö intensified!

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As you’ve read on one of our articles last week, based on the increased terrorist threat level, the Swedish Police Authority had decided to ban bags at major events in Sweden.

Consequently, Malmö is currently evaluating the current situation caused by the ongoing Middle-East conflict and is discussing the ways of making the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest as safe as possible.

Speaking to Sveriges Radio, Nils Norling, spokesperson for the police of Malmö mentioned:

“If we look at Malmö during the last month, we have seen a certain increase in hate crime. Daily we see manifestations, mostly pro-Palestinian. So we cannot exclude that people will try and carry out various manifestations.”

Up until now, the police of Malmö hasn’t identified any direct threats to the contest, but it goes without saying that the intelligence work will intensify as we are approaching to the contest.

Sveriges Radio also interviewed Karin Karlsson, who is the lead for organising the events of Malmö municipality. Karin reflected on one manifestation against the Israeli participation that was carried out back in 2013 and added:

“I think that we need to act preventively and keep in mind that more could happen than in 2013, and then follow the things the police tells us to do.”

Apart from the Eurovision Song Contest, the city of Malmö will host several events in public or outdoor spaces. But does this pose a threat according to Karlsson?

“We try to look at places where we are used to having good security and controls, so the places we want to use should feel safe.“

More safety specifications regarding the Eurovision Song Contest will be released within the following months.

The 68th Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Malmö, Sweden in 7, 9 and 11th of May 2024, after the second win of Loreen in Liverpool, with her song “Tattoo”:

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the next year’s Eurovision Song Contest!

Source: Sveriges Radio

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Sweden: Bag ban in all major events, effective last Wednesday! | How are Mello and Eurovision affected?

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Based on the increased terrorist threat level, the Swedish Police Authority has decided to ban bags at major events in Sweden.

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