Pro-Palestinian demonstrators clashed with riot police in Basel as the Swiss city hosted the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday, according to journalists at the scene. Protesters demonstrating against Israel’s participation in the contest while it ramps up its war in Gaza clashed briefly with police in the centre of the city shortly before Israel’s Eurovision entrant Yuval Raphael took to the stage at the St. Jakobshalle venue across town, reporters for news agency AFP said. Blows were exchanged and police used tear gas and rolled in a water cannon truck as they tried to block demonstrators from marching through the city centre, which was thronged with Eurovision fans.
