A large group has gathered outside the BBC Broadcasting House building in Central London calling for Olly Alexander to boycott this year's Eurovision this evening (Thursday, April 25). The pro-Palestine group has been calling for the singer, who has been selected as Britain's representative at the European music competition, not to participate.
There is also reportedly a pro-Israel counter-protest happening as well. The pro-Palestine demonstrators were filmed shouting "Olly Olly Olly, Out Out Out", with many in the crowd waving Palestinian flags.
Palestine Solidarity Campaign tweeted: "Hundreds are gathered outside @BBCNews 3to call on the BBC and @alexander_olly to heed the Palestinian call and #BoycottEurovision2024."
In 2022, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) excluded Russia from participating in the competition. Pro-Palestinian activists and groups have argued that Israel should be excluded for the same reason.
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign has now created a petition calling for a boycott of the Eurovision Song Contest 2024.
They say: "Palestinians have called for a boycott of the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 because of the refusal of its organisers, the European Broadcasting Union, to expel genocidal Israel from the competition. As part of the call to boycott, Palestinians have asked all artists to withdraw."
Last month, more than 450 LGBTQ+ artists, organisations and more individuals signed an open letter urging Olly Alexander to pull out of Eurovision, in protest at Israel's inclusion in the competition. The group, Queers for Palestine, said Israel's presence in Eurovision is normalising the war in Gaza.
Following calls for him not to participate, Alexander responded on social media on March 29, saying: "We want to begin by acknowledging the privilege of taking part in Eurovision. In light of the current situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and particularly in Gaza, and in Israel, we do not feel comfortable being silent.
“It it important to us to stand in solidarity with the oppressed and communicate our heartfelt wish for peace, an immediate lasting ceasefire, and the safe return of all hostages. We stand united against all forms of hate, including antisemitism and islamophobia.
"We firmly believe in the unifying power of music, enabling people to transcend differences and foster meaningful conversations and connections. We feel that it is our duty to create and uphold this space, with a strong hope that it will inspire greater compassion and empathy."
EastEnders fans have been left furious over Whitney Dean's "character assassination" after she threatened a school girl and lied about fostering Britney Wainwright.
Troubled Britney has moved in with pregnant Whitney and Zack Hudson at their home in Albert Square after meeting in Milton Keynes. Although Whitney has been misleading Zack about fostering Britney as the arrangement in unofficial.
Lauren Branning has recently tried to convince Whitney to come clean with Zack and admit she'd paid off Britney's mum under the table to take her back to Walford. The two friends have since has multiple disagreements about the lies surrounding Britney.
Whitney threatens a school girl during Wednesday's episode of EastEnders (Image: BBC)
During Wednesday trip to Walford (April 24), Lauren and Whitney rushed to help Britney after she was bullied by a group of school girls. Zack encouraged Whitney to let the girl have a chance to handle the situation on her own first as she settles into her new school.
However, Whitney rushed to Britney's defence by confronting the bullies and threatened them, which only made things worse and led to the girls tormenting Britney even more.
While Britney had some support from her new friend Lexi Pearce, she was angry with Whitney for interfering. She told Zack and Lauren that Whitney had just "made everything worse" by getting involved with the bullies.
"She's ruined everything. I hate this place," Britney declared. Zack, who has struggled to accept Britney, was horrified as Britney revealed that Whitney had "stolen her" from behind her mother's back in Milton Keynes.
Britney tells Zack that Whitney "stole her" as the secret is finally exposed in EastEnders (Image: BBC)
"I ain't being anyone's dirty little secret anymore," Britney blurted out. A second later, Whitney arrived home as Zack demanded to know what was going on with Britney.
Following Whitney's erratic behaviour in trying to help Britney, some EastEnders fans have claimed the BBC soap have completely ruined her character. Taking to X, one person said: "The writers truly have turned Whitney into a reckless individual. #EastEnders."
A second said: "My god when is Whitney leaving?!? They’ve ruined the character. Bore off #EastEnders". While a third chimed in with: "Anyone else infuriated by how selfish Whitney has suddenly become? Honestly ridiculous what she is doing to Zach. #EastEnders."
"Whitney threatening a little girl was… unexpected #EastEnders", exclaimed one fan. "Making Whitney deeply unlikeable as an exit story is a choice. #EastEnders", added another.
EastEnders airs Monday - Thursday at 7:30pm on BBC One.
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Conservative mayoral candidate Susan Hall claims London's night-time workers have told her “gangs [are] running around with machetes” as she exchanged political blows with rival Sadiq Khan during a radio debate ahead of the mayoral election on May 2.
Mr Khan called Ms Hall the “most dangerous candidate I have fought against” as they appeared alongside the Lib Dems and Green Party candidates Rob Blackie and Zoe Garbett to answer questions from LBC callers on a number of issues on Tuesday evening (April 23).
Mr Khan is seeking a historic third term in office, having first been elected in 2016. When asked about the Metropolitan Police, all four candidates said they had confidence in Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley amid recent calls for him to resign. Mr Khan said he thought the Met was ahead of other police services across the country and praised Sir Mark for “making remarkable progress”.
Ms Hall disagreed and said London was in “a very serious situation”, and that she had been told by those working in the night-time economy about “gangs running around with machetes”. The mayor said: “I think the Tory candidate should stop watching The Wire.”
Conservative party candidate Susan Hall refused to spell out where the £200 million in revenue that ULEZ brings would instead come from, saying it was “a long, complicated mix” (Image: Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire)
Asked about the ultra low emission zone (ULEZ), Ms Hall said the mayor’s own impact assessment had “showed him it would make virtually no difference at all”. A strong advocate of scrapping the scheme, she refused to spell out where the £200 million in revenue that ULEZ brings would instead come from, saying it was “a long, complicated mix”.
Mr Khan said: “I’m not going to apologise at all for cleaning up the air in our city.” Pressed on his comments in 2021 that Ulez did not need to be expanded, Mr Khan said the World Health Organisation had changed their guidelines on air toxicity levels.
Ms Hall said that the mayor would bring in pay-per-mile charging for vehicles in London and described his policy record as “absolutely abysmal”. The mayor described Ms Hall as the “most dangerous candidate I have fought against” after she said she had “learnt” from a series of unsavoury social media posts she made about her political rival.
All four candidates involved in the debate gave their backing to Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley (Image: Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire)
Asked about affordable housing, Mr Khan said he would fund 6,000 rent-control homes and 40,000 council homes and provide free legal advice to tenants.
Ms Hall said rent control would not work because of high rental costs, and that the problem was a lack of housing being built. She said: “All you ever do, Sadiq, is throw numbers out there that when people try and analyse them and look into them, you then throw another load of numbers out there. Nobody believes you any more because you don’t deliver.”
Put to him by presenter Tom Swarbrick that Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer disagrees with him on rent control, Mr Khan said: “Unlike the Tory candidate, I will stand up to the Labour leader and a Conservative leader. It’s really important you’ve got a mayor that is a champion and advocate for the city, not in the pocket of the leader of their party.”
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Hall said she had been campaigning with party leader Rishi Sunak in Kensington last month, and that the Prime Minister fully backed her campaign. Other issues aired by callers included help for struggling families with the cost of living and rough sleeping.
Mr Khan promised to extend universal free school meals in primary schools permanently, while Ms Hall said she would continue the policy as mayor despite previously suggesting the idea was wrong. Put to him that rough sleeping had increased by 71 per cent since 2016, Mr Khan said the issue “breaks my heart” but that there was “a conveyor belt of new people” coming on to London’s streets, a comment subsequently called out by Ms Garbett and Ms Hall.
A man wanted for questioning in the Jill Dando murder case bears a striking resemblance to a Serbian secret services assassin, a Mirror breakthrough investigation has found. The Crimewatch presenter was shot dead on her doorstep just after 11.30am on Monday April 26, 1999, in Fulham, at the age of 37.
It bore the hallmarks of a professional hit and an unidentified person was caught on CCTV following the gunman’s likely escape route. The "sweating man" e-fit of a suspect who got on a bus in Fulham minutes after Jill was shot outside her nearby home.
Now 25 years later, an investigation by our sister site The Mirror reveals the similarities to 'Mr X' and a Serbian criminal. Facial comparison expert Emi Polito has now found multiple likeliness between “Man X” in the CCTV and twice-convicted murderer Milorad Ulemek, who is serving 40 years in a Serbian prison.
Milorad Lukovic Ulemek pictured in 2004 (Image: KOCA SULEJMANOVIC/AFP via Getty Images)
At the time Jill was killed, the 56-year-old led a feared squad of hitmen responsible for targeting opponents of brutal dictator Slobodan Milosevic. Jill’s brother Nigel, 72, told The Mirror: "I’m always interested in any new lines of inquiry about Jill’s death, especially if those lines of inquiry might lead to somebody being arrested and convicted of her murder."
Barry George, the man tried and convicted of the TV star’s murder only to be cleared after spending eight years in jail, has called on police to investigate. Mr George, 64, who lived nearby at the time and has learning difficulties, said: “If he’s the person who committed that crime then he should face the full letter of the law and be brought from Serbia to the UK and be dealt with through the courts.”
Michael Mansfield KC, who defended Mr George during the first trial, said of our findings: “I would call for there to be a review and for the investigation to be resuscitated. There was a recent Netflix show called ‘Who Killed Jill Dando?’ Well, you may have the answer."
Emi Polito has now found a number of similarities between “Man X” in the image and twice-convicted murderer Milorad Ulemek
Mr Mansfield added: "The Metropolitan Police has a duty to Jill Dando's family and loved ones, to Barry George and the public to fully investigate this new line of inquiry uncovered by the Daily Mirror.
"This should include a full forensic examination of the original CCTV of the unidentified man, all recovered finger and palm prints and to ascertain the movements of Ulemek at the time."
When Jill died, the Yugoslav war was raging and British planes were bombing Serbia as part of a NATO campaign. She had made an appeal for Kosovan refugees who were being massacred by Milosevic’s forces.
Within hours of her death, a call was made claiming the murder was in response to the bombings. Mr Polito, who gives expert evidence for the police, said Man X and the Serb killer have a similar shaped mouth, chin, hairline and right sideburn, while the general shape and sizes of their noses and right ear were the same.
Barry George (Image: PHILIP COBURN)
His report concluded: “Within the imagery limitations, no differences were found between Man X and Mr [Ulemek].” But he could only give limited support to them being the same person because of a lack of detail in the blurry still of the CCTV image.
He concluded: “There are a number of similarities between the two men… in particular the appearance of the mouth and of the hairline that add some light weight to the contention that they are the same person.”
Mr Polito said that it may be possible to make a more definitive finding if better quality CCTV was obtained. In addition, the expert highlighted a dent on the bridge of Ulemek’s nose which is not visible in the CCTV image but is evident in an e-fit created by an eye witness at the time, which was released by the police. Mr Polito has not given the e-fit image.
Ulemek’s lawyer Aleksander Kovacevic said his client did not wish to 'participate' when asked if he murdered Jill. He wrote: “I inform you that my client has been made aware of this and that he is not interested in participating.”
Where was 'Man X' seen after Jill Dando's murder?
The murder of Jill Dando shocked the nation and led to one of the biggest homicide investigations ever conducted in the UK. It remains one of Britain’s most notorious unsolved murders but police have not touched the files for more than 10 years.
With the 25th anniversary on Friday, a Mirror investigation has examined thousands of pages of police files, spoken to a number of witnesses and former detectives and travelled to Serbia.
The publication have found that the Met Police were in possession of the original CCTV of “Man X” within two weeks of the murder. It showed a white male with dark hair, thought to be born between 1960 and 1970, wearing a dark suit, a light shirt and a light and dark coloured tie.
Jill Dando was murdered in Fulham in April 1999 (Image: mirrorpix)
He was filmed approximately a mile from the murder scene walking into Putney Bridge Tube station, buying a ticket and then entering through the barriers. Seconds later he turned around and left the station after going back out through an exit barrier, police files reveal.
Det Chief Insp Hamish Campbell told the opening of Jill’s inquest on May 5, 1999, that a man resembling the e-fit of the suspect was seen getting on a number 74 bus minutes after the shooting.
He was sweating heavily and speaking into a mobile phone. The bus, which was not fitted with CCTV, took him two stops from the Fulham Palace Road to the Tube station.
The driver came forward to confirm he had picked up the e-fit suspect. Detectives accessed CCTV footage taken in and around the station suspecting that was the route he took. But they never released images of Man X. Scotland Yard confirmed earlier this month that he remains unidentified.
Ulemek was convicted of plotting the murders of Serbia’s former President Ivan Stambolic in 2000 and the country’s first democratically elected PM, Zoran Djindjic in 2003.
The former French Foreign Legionnaire and gang boss is understood to have learned English while living in London as a young man.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has summoned the Metropolitan Police Commissioner to discuss 'community relations' after a row about the force’s handling of pro-Palestinian protests. Sir Mark Rowley will meet Mr Khan on Monday (April 22) after an outcry over an incident in which an antisemitism campaigner was threatened with arrest near a demonstration on April 13.
The Commissioner is also expected to meet the Home Secretary, James Cleverly, in the coming days, and has come under pressure to resign after a series of criticisms of the Met’s approach to protests over the past six months. But Government sources have played down the possibility that Sir Mark could be sacked and he is understood to retain the confidence of the mayor.
The most recent row followed publication of footage showing an officer describing Gideon Falter, chief executive of the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), as 'openly Jewish' and another saying he would be arrested if he did not leave the vicinity of the protest as his presence was 'antagonising'.
A screengrab from the video posted by Campaign Against Antisemitism of their chief executive Gideon Falter speaking to a Metropolitan Police during a pro-Palestine march in London. Mr Falter was wearing a kippah skull cap when he was stopped from crossing the road near the demonstration in Aldwych (Image: PA Media)
The force apologised, before being forced to issue another statement apologising for its first apology, which had suggested opponents of pro-Palestinian marches 'must know that their presence is provocative'. Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist has also written to Mr Falter, offering him a private meeting “to both apologise to him personally and discuss what more the Met can do to ensure Jewish Londoners feel safe”.
In their latest statement, the Met said: "We will do everything we can to constantly develop our approach in response to operational challenges to ensure the trust and confidence of all Londoners. This is complex, but we will continue to seek the support and insight of all voices who can help us deliver the service London deserves."
Both Mr Falter and former home secretary Suella Braverman called for Sir Mark to go, accusing him of 'emboldening' antisemites by failing to curtail the now regular marches through the capital. While Government sources have expressed condemnation of the incident involving Mr Falter, they have been keen to stress that nobody in Government is threatening Sir Mark’s position.
One source said: “The PM has seen the footage and is as appalled as everyone else by the officer calling Mr Falter ‘openly Jewish’... He expects the Met Commissioner to account for how it happened and what he will do to ensure officers do more to make Jewish communities in London feel safe – and Sadiq Khan to do his job in holding the Met to account.”
'Some of our actions have increased this concern'
Pro-Israel supporters and pro-Palestine supporters hold opposing demonstrations in Tottenham Court Road, Central London on April 20 (Image: PA Wire/PA Images)
Both the Mayor and the Home Secretary have responsibility for holding the commissioner to account, although the mayor is the one tasked with setting the strategic direction for policing in London. A spokesman for Mr Khan said the Met’s handling of the incident was 'concerning' and its initial statement had been 'insensitive and wrong'.
The spokesman added: “The Met have an extremely difficult job – particularly so when it comes to operational decisions taken while policing marches. But in the end the Met must have the confidence of the communities they serve and it is right that they have apologised for the way the incident was handled and their original public response.”
Sir Mark said: “Every member of the Met is determined to ensure that London is a city in which everyone feels safe. We absolutely understand how vulnerable Jewish and Muslim Londoners feel since the terrorist attacks on Israel. Some of our actions have increased this concern. I personally reiterate our apology from earlier this week. Today, as with every other day, our officers will continue to police with courage, empathy and impartiality.”
In an effort to begin mending relations with London’s Jewish community, Sir Mark will also meet representatives from the London Jewish Forum and Community Security Trust, while other community representatives have been invited to observe an operational planning session on protests.
A Home Office spokesman said: “We welcome the Met Police’s apology, and recognise the complexities of policing fast-moving public protests, but simply being Jewish, or of any other race or religion, should never be seen as provocative. Anyone of any religion should be free to go about their lives and feel safe doing so.”
Huge plumes of smoke were seen rising from Hyde Park today - that being the 20th day of the fourth month of this year. The beginnings of a wildfire? A mass BBQ event? Or a trade show for wood-burning stoves? It was none of those. If you were there the smell might give it away, along with the conical shape of the rollies being passed around, one toke at a time.
Today was 420 - a day reserved for celebrating the inhalation of marijuana, a plant that calms the body and titillates the mind. Lighting up joints in full view of the police, thousands of revellers descended on the Central London Royal Park to take part in the 'unauthorised event' which demands the illegal Class B drug become decriminalised.
Pot smokers unite for the rally every year on April 20, a reference to the term 420 under the American date system. The origins of 420 are said to come from the time - 4.20pm - when students at a school in California would convene for a search to find an abandoned plot of cannabis plants.
On Saturday, some attendees wore bucket hats - a significant bit of headgear in stoner culture - as they were joined by the likes of rapper and TV personality Big Narstie. In an Instagram post to his 567,000 followers, the Lambeth-born 38-year-old said: "We're outside yeah. We're outside. Mad." After trying to take a toke, he realised 'Ah s**t, my zoot's still out', then added: "We're just out."
In a video taken by retired Met Police officer Chris Hobbs, thick smoke could be seen rising from the sheer number of lit joints. In a post on X, Mr Hobbs said: "Cannabis smoke rises from the thousands assembled in Hyde Park." In another post, he showed police officers rushing to help a man on the floor who kept 'lapsing into unconsciousness'.
Rapper Big Narstie joined the cannabis celebration at Hyde Park today (Image: Instagram)
Police eventually issued a Section 35 dispersal order, forcing the remaining weed enthusiasts to leave. As of this afternoon, the force said one person had been arrested on suspicion of carrying a knife and that five community resolution orders for the possession of cannabis had been issued.
'People may be liable for prosecution or arrest'
Before the event, a spokesperson for Royal Parks said: "The Royal Parks has not given permission for this unauthorised assembly in Hyde Park, and it is in breach of The Royal Parks’ regulations. The Metropolitan Police are aware that this unauthorised assembly is due to take place and have advised that people may be liable for prosecution or arrest.
"Enforcement of the law and of park regulations is a matter for the Metropolitan Police. While the park will remain open, we advise visitors to be aware that this event is taking place and to note that both The Royal Parks Shop and boating on the Serpentine Lake will be closed that day.
"We will continue to work closely with the Police to make sure the Royal Parks remain safe and enjoyable for everyone."
