Europop flap

Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro

Serbs and Montenegrins were bitterly divided this week over which pop band should represent their federation in Eurovision, a Europe-wide song contest to be held in May. During a televised competition, the Serbian band the Flamingoes was the audience favorite, but judges picked Montenegrin boy band No Name instead. With Serbs in the audience threatening to riot, security officers had to rush the Montenegrin judges and singers out of the concert hall. Judges met later to reconsider and ended up withdrawing both bands’ entries. Now it’s unclear whether the country will compete at all. Former Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Zivkovic said the dispute was inspiring “much more passion” than the death last week of Slobodan Milosevic. Serbia and Montenegro are the last republics of former Yugoslavia to remain united as one country.