The Nicosia branch of the "United for Palestine" movement is calling a demonstration outside the premises of the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC/RIK) in Aglandjia this evening, Tuesday 12 May 2026, at 6pm. The protest centres on Israel's participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026, amid what organisers describe as a period of acute political and humanitarian developments in the region.
According to the organisers, today's demonstration follows a letter sent by civil society organisations to CyBC's management on 5 April 2026, calling on the public broadcaster to pressure the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to reconsider the eligibility of the Israeli public broadcaster to participate in the contest.
Key demands
The organisations backing the initiative are calling on CyBC and the relevant authorities to take three steps. First, they want an official intervention with the EBU, in the form of a formal request to review the Israeli broadcaster's eligibility on the basis of the Union's own previous criteria and decisions. Second, they are seeking clarification of the regulations, specifically what the contest's "apolitical" character entails and how it is to be applied in the current circumstances. Third, they are demanding transparency, calling for an official statement from CyBC on the position it has taken in EBU decision-making processes.
The movement argues that Israel's participation cannot be viewed in isolation from the broader humanitarian context. According to the organisers' announcement, the aim of the protest is to strengthen the institutional credibility of Eurovision and to ensure that the contest is not used as a vehicle for the normalisation of political situations.
