The Eurovision Song Contest comes to Basel
Security for the Eurovision Song Contest posed a challenge for fedpol. The competition took place amid numerous geopolitical tensions and an elevated terrorist threat level.
From the Congress Center to the banks of the Rhine, music fans flocked to Basel in the second week of May 2025. The 69th Eurovision Song Contest (ESC), the warm spring days and the wide range of activities, including a karaoke tram and street concerts, drew more than half a million people to the city. Thirty-seven foreign artist delegations attended, while 1,500 media professionals reported live from the venue and around 160 million viewers followed the event on television. The Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft cantonal police forces were stretched to the limit – so fedpol agents were on duty to provide assistance.
fedpol at the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time
fedpol employees supported the bicantonal operational command on the ground for ten days, right at the heart of the action. They produced situation analyses, assisted with investigations involving cross-border criminal activity, coordinated international police cooperation and determined which personal protection measures were to be used.
Working alongside the Basel operational command and the event organiser, fedpol also led a security briefing: around 35 representatives of foreign embassies and consulates in Switzerland were updated on potential crisis scenarios ahead of the event and received all the essential information on the security measures.
Geopolitical flashpoints
The impact of geopolitical tensions – such as the Israel-Palestine conflict in the Middle East – was also evident at the ESC. During the event, there were several distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, in which various Swiss websites were inundated with enormous numbers of requests and crashed as a result. The disruption is believed to have been carried out by a foreign group opposing the ban on Hamas, which came into effect in Switzerland on the day of the second semi-final.
Although the ESC delegations were not protected under international law, some of them required greater protection than others, including the artist representing Israel. The bicantonal operational command was responsible for these delegations’ safety, while fedpol facilitated continuous communications with police attachés from the relevant countries and the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.
Cooperation with Europol
The location of the event – right on the border with Germany and France – required exceptionally efficient cross-border police cooperation. At fedpol’s request, Europol deployed two staff members to Basel to support the police forces, mainly with preliminary investigations and situation analysis.
In one instance, a French national was checked when entering Switzerland during the ESC and was found to be listed in the Schengen Information System. Following consultation with Europol and other relevant authorities abroad, it was determined that the man had previously been sentenced to imprisonment in France due to his involvement in planning a suspected terror attack. fedpol shared this information with national partner authorities, who ensured that he did not gain entry to Switzerland.
After around ten days in Basel, it was time for the fedpol employees to wrap up their operation. The pilot project was a success, opening the door to similar initiatives in future.
“The location of the event, the geopolitical tensions and the enormous media focus posed a number of challenges for security authorities. That made the planning, coordination and smooth implementation of the security measures all the more important.”
Benedikt, Deputy Head of the International Police Cooperation Division