NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) – A man was accused of uttering threats and causing unrest after breaking into the grounds of Cyprus’ public broadcaster to protest what he said was the country’s “blasphemous” entry into this year’s Eurovision music contest, said the police. Sunday.
Police told the Associated Press that the man, who was not identified, was released after being charged with four counts, including being verbally abusive.
Police said witnesses to Saturday’s incident told investigators that the man verbally approached officials outside the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation’s news department. He was apparently upset that the broadcaster had chosen the song “El Diablo” (“The Devil”) by the Greek singer Elena Tsagrinou to represent Cyprus, since he said it was an affront to Christianity.
Amateur video of the man confronting the CyBC team showed him yelling at several employees in the courtyard, asking how they could justify support for such music.
The title of “El Diablo”, as well as its lyrics – “I gave my heart to el diablo … because he tells me that I am his angel” – touched a raw nerve with some in the island nation of the eastern Mediterranean, which he considers -the one full of satanic overtones.
According to the Cyprus News Agency, an association representing theologians who teach in high schools expressed their “disgust” for music and asked for it to be withdrawn because it “promises lifelong devotion and professes love for Satan” .
The agency also reported that the broadcaster had received threatening phone calls that it “would be burned” because of the music.
The extreme right-wing political party ELAM issued a statement saying that even if the lyrics are metaphorical, they “attack and insult our faith in an obscure way”.
Others, meanwhile, resorted to social media to dismiss “El Diablo” as good music, to defend it simply as a song about a “burning love affair” or to label their detractors as religious fanatics.
Cyprus’ best performance in the popular music contest was as runner-up in 2018 with the song “El Fuego” by singer Eleni Foureira.
The annual Eurovision contest is a European institution loved by millions of people that usually involves controversial, questionable or simply bad songs.