![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/8f197287-bd3b-4ca1-b148-c1df1fec6487.jpg\")
Five countries that usually take part in Eurovision will boycott it over Israel’s participation. (AP PHOTO)<\/p>\n Five countries that usually take part in Eurovision will boycott it over Israel’s participation. (AP PHOTO)<\/p>\n
Vienna police say they expect protests against Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest to include “blockades and disruption \u200cattempts,” calling the competition in the Austrian capital one of the biggest security events they \u200chave faced.<\/p>\n
A celebration of pop music and high camp, the contest is taking place in particularly tense circumstances this year as five countries’ broadcasters including Spanish heavyweight RTVE and Ireland’s RTE, are boycotting over Israel’s conduct of the war in the Gaza Strip, launched in retaliation for the October 2023 attacks on Israel by Hamas.<\/p>\n
The Iran \u200cwar has since exacerbated that \u2060tension.<\/p>\n
A handful of demonstrations, mainly against but also in favour of Israel’s \u200btaking part, have been registered so far for next week, with attendance estimated at up to 3000.<\/p>\n
Protests must be registered with 48 hours’ notice.<\/p>\n
“We expect there will in fact be blockades and disruptive actions, particularly on the day of the final, whether through authorised or unauthorised gatherings,” Xenia Zauner, a senior police official who will \u2060oversee the security operation, told a press conference.<\/p>\n
Demonstrations against Israel’s \u200cparticipation \u200bhave become a feature of recent editions of the contest.<\/p>\n
The eve of the final – Friday, May 15 – is \u200balso Nakba \u200cDay, when Palestinians commemorate the loss of their land after the 1948 war at the birth of \u200bthe state of Israel.<\/p>\n
The word “nakba” means “catastrophe”. <\/p>\n
Zauner said that day has “great emotional significance for the pro-Palestine movement”.<\/p>\n
Police are preparing for a wide range of threats.<\/p>\n
Drones will be banned within 1.5\u200bkm of sites including the contest venue, \u200band the US Federal Bureau of Investigation will set \u200cup a task force in New York next week that Austrian authorities can contact around the clock to address cyber threats, police said.<\/p>\n
While the general “terrorism alert level” in Austria has been at the second-highest notch for more than two years, there is no specific threat against the contest, Vienna police Vice President Dieter Csefan said.<\/p>\n
Those \u200battending the event should expect international airport-level security screenings, and can only bring small transparent bags inside, \u200bpolice said.<\/p>\n
Airport-style security will \u2060also be set up at a large fan area in front of \u200bcity hall, they added. <\/p>\n