Activists want to play Eurovision song contest winner outside Russian embassy

Ukraine's JamalaUkraine's Jamala performs her winning song "1944" during the Eurovision Song Contest final at the Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden, May 14, 2016. TT News Agency/Maja Suslin/via REUTERS

A group calling itself The Norwegian democracy movement has sought permission from the police  to play the song that won the Eurovision song contest, the song “1944”  by Jamal,  in front of the Embassy of Russia in Oslo on Wednesday.

LAST: Activists get to play the Eurovision-winner at Russia’s Embassy

Wednesday May 18 marks the sad anniversary of the deportation of Tatars from the Crimea.The song of Jamala, whose father is a Crimean Tatar, may be interpreted as a criticism of the Russian occupation of Crimea.
Tatars ruled the peninsula in the Black Sea from 1441 to 1783 when the Russians conquered Crimea. On 18. May 1944 , Joseph Stalin ordered the deportation of all Crimean Tatars, who he claimed had collaborated with the Germans. They were allowed to return home in the mid-1980s.
Several Russian politicians regard Eurovision song and victory as political. Frants Klintsevitsj, a member of the Russian Federation Council, advocates considering Russian boycott of the finals in Ukraine next year, according to the news agency AFP.
– It was not the Ukrainian singer Jamala and her song “1944” who won. It was politics that won over art, he told local media.
Sigurd Lydersen is the head organizer of the planned demonstration on this Wednesday afternoon. He is a Norwegian peace activist, editor and holds a degree in Russian. Lydersen is the former head of the Norwegian Peace Association and edited the organization’s magazine the will to peace.

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today