Three Youth Demand supporters have been detained during Israel’s performance at the live Eurovision final. Youth Demand is a youth-led, nonviolent civil resistance group calling for the UK government to impose a full trade embargo on Israel. [1]
At approximately 9:30PM CEST/8:30PM BST, three Youth Demand supporters were forcibly removed from the St Jakobshalle arena in Basel, Switzerland, during Yuval Raphael’s performance of “New Day Will Rise.” Security guards could be seen assaulting one of the supporters, David, including slapping him and pulling his hair [6]. The three were then placed behind a screen outside the venue by security and held by armed police before being released.
One of those arrested this evening is David Currey, 22, from Manchester, who said:
“After dropping the equivalent of six Hiroshomas’ worth of bombs on Gaza, Israel has been blockading all food, water and key medical aid from entering Gaza for over three months now. Israel is being armed and aided by UK and European governments, whilst they murder a child every 45 minutes. To top it off, here we are having a party with them on the biggest stage of them all! Help us resist by signing up atYouthDemand.ORG.” [2][3][4]
Meaghan Leon, who is a 27 year old from London, was also arrested this evening. She said:
“I cannot not sit back and watch Europe throw a party with the genocidal state of Israel in attendance, especially after Russia was rightfully kicked out for their aggression towards the Ukrainian people. Do Palestinians not deserve the same consideration?
We need to end all arms sales to Israel. Across the continent and in the UK, all polls show this is what the people want, yet our leaders ignore us. We need to upgrade our democracies and we need aHouse of the People.” [5]
Since December 2023, the British army has flown over 500 spy flights over Gaza, raising fears of complicity in Israeli war crimes. These continued during and after the ceasefire, despite Israel’s bombing campaign killing over 17,400 children- many more than the 6,500 in the St Jakobshalle arena tonight. The UK government has refused to deny the Israeli F-35 fighter jets bombing Gaza have access to the Akrotiri RAF bases in Cyprus. [6]
The House of the People highlighted by the action takers is a citizens’ assembly being held in July 2025. Any person in the UK is invited to sign up, with the 100 participants being selected by a Democratic Lottery. They will be offered advice by experts to create five concrete proposals for the UK government, based on Assemblies across the UK. It’s being proposed that the House of Lords is abolished in favour of a House of the People. [5]
Young people will not accept these crimes against humanity and we will not be led by war criminals. We cannot allow those in power to get away with facilitating the systematic annihilation of an entire people. Only mass resistance can put an end to this genocide. Join us at youthdemand.org.
ENDS
Youth Demand Press contact: 07762 987334
Press email: YouthDemandPress@protonmail.com
High quality images & video here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/13vFus2e8TEI_bfhIYHXEIV-IZV86P9v9
Website: https://youthdemand.org
Twitter: https://x.com/youth_demand
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_youthdemand
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@youth.demand
Notes to Editors:
[1] Youth Demand is a youth-led nonviolent civil resistance group fighting for an end to genocide in Palestine and across the globe as a result of the climate crisis.
Our demands:
Stop all trade with Israel: the UK government must impose a total trade embargo on Israel.
Make the rich pay: the UK government must raise £1tn by 2030 from the super rich and fossil fuel elite to pay damages to communities and countries most harmed by fossil fuel burning.
Youth Demand is part of Umbrella and a member of the A22 Network of civil resistance projects.
[5] https://www.houseofthepeople.uk/
[6] https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZXF1IA-BeJIyxAUdhViUK-gqWCcjUuwr/view?usp=drive_link
