David Mdzinarishvili / REUTERS

Loreen of Sweden performs her song "Euphoria" after winning the Eurovision song contest in Baku, Azerbaijan.

BAKU, Azerbaijan -- Sweden's Loreen won the Eurovision Song Contest in Azerbaijan on Sunday before an international TV audience of 100 million, days after angering Azeri authorities by meeting rights activists critical of the host country's human rights record.

Opposition groups have used the Eurovision spotlight, intended by Azerbaijan to promote the country as a destination for tourism and business, to demand democracy and the resignation of the government. Dozens of peaceful protesters have been arrested this month in the Caspian coastal capital, Baku. Activists say some buildings in the center of the city were torn down to make way for the Eurovision arena and residents were forcibly evicted without proper compensation.

The 28-year-old pop singer won with the song "Euphoria" in the annual competition of 42 countries, delighting viewers and the contest's professional judges and dancing barefoot as she sang.

"This is about all of us! Thank you so very much!" Loreen told a news conference.

She said the first to congratulate her were her family and her crew. Her mother joined her briefly at the news conference.

"Time has stopped," Loreen said about her feelings after she was announced as winner.

Russia's entry, rural folk group Buranovskiye Babushki (Grannies from Buranovo) came in second and Serbia's Zeljko Joksimovic was third in the 57th year of a contest famous for heavy-duty kitsch.

David Mdzinarishvili / REUTERS

Loreen, right, of Sweden lifts the trophy and flowers after winning the Eurovision contest.

The competition took place in a specially built "Crystal Hall" on the shores of the Caspian.

Loreen has met with activists who accuse the government of forcing people from their homes for the building of the hall, an accusation Baku denies. Azeri authorities accused her of making political statements that had no place at a musical event.

'Historical and magical'

Hundreds of people started pouring into a roundabout in central Stockholm, dancing in a fountain, honking horns and waving flags and playing the winning song.

"This is historical and magical! I think I'm going to die. This is the best thing that has happened to Sweden in 13 years!" said 20-year-old Tanja Tuuliainen from Stockholm, wearing a Swedish flag and drinking a bottle of champagne with her girlfriends on the edge of a fountain in downtown Stockholm.

Sweden's entry last won the Eurovision competition in 1999.

Celebrants were bathing in their underwear in the fountain, where Swedes traditionally celebrate major sporting event wins.

Hundreds were singing "We're going up up up up up!!!", repeating a line from Loreen's song.

David Mdzinarishvili / REUTERS

Loreen of Sweden holds the trophy and flowers after winning the Eurovision song contest in Baku, Azerbaijan, early Sunday.

The Eurovision Song Contest has been a launching pad for international careers. Swedish pop group Abba became famous after winning in 1974 with "Waterloo" and Canada's Celine Dion took top honors in 1988 for Switzerland.

To promote talent over politically and geographically motivated bloc voting, professional judges now account for 50 percent of a performer's score.

The other half comes from telephone and SMS votes received by each contestant, with fans unable to vote for their own country's entry.

As winner, Sweden will host the next Eurovision contest.

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BAKU, Azerbaijan -- Tens of millions of television viewers will tune into Europe's annual pop music contest in the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan on Saturday, but a war of words over human rights may drown out the singing, self-promotion and kitschy costumes.

Hundreds of excited Eurovision Song Contest fans have already arrived in the oil-rich Azeri capital of Baku, which has undergone a $60 million facelift in preparation for the event with a shiny new 23,000-seat rectangular Crystal Hall on the shores of the Caspian Sea at the centre of the celebrations.

"People are very friendly in Azerbaijan and food is fantastic. We enjoy being here and we love Eurovision," said Dmitry, a 19-year-old flag-draped fan from Moldova, accompanied by new Azeri friends.

The multi-purpose Crystal Hall arena was built by a German firm in eight months for an undisclosed sum of money.

Russian grannies, Humperdinck among top Eurovision contenders

But human rights groups say some buildings in the centre of Baku were specifically torn down with the song contest in mind and that the forced eviction of residents, especially in areas around the Crystal Hall, casts a shadow over the event.

Azerbaijan won the right to host the annual contest last year in Germany with the victory of its entry, the love song "Running Scared," from Eldar Gasimov and Nigar Jamal, better known as Ell/Nikki.

It is the fifth former Soviet republic after Estonia, Latvia, Ukraine and Russia and the second Muslim country after Turkey to host the event.

Decorations and demonstrations

In preparation, Azerbaijan has trained thousands of police, temporary staff and volunteers in basic foreign language skills to welcome contest participants and cope with the thousands of fans arriving from around Europe.

"I have been trained for a few months and can speak basic English now," said Elchin Guluzade, a 43-year-old taxi driver, who drives one of the dozens of cabs bought ahead of the event.

Taxis as well as buses and streets of the capital Baku are decorated with Eurovision emblems and the slogan "Light your fire!" Locals and guests stroll around in Azeri national colors of red and green as well as blue Eurovision t-shirts and caps.

"I think that many more people will learn about our beautiful country after Eurovision and many more will come to see it," 19-year-old student Sabina Mehdiyeva said, adding her voice to many Baku residents who welcomed the contest.

Despite the effort to highlight progress that the oil-producing nation of nine million people has made since independence in 1991, critics of President Ilham Aliyev's government have taken the opportunity to air allegations of human rights abuses.

Critics accuse Aliyev, who in 2003 succeeded his father to the presidency of the Caspian Sea country north of Iran, of clamping down on dissent, but Baku says the country enjoys full freedom of speech and a vibrant opposition press.

Dozens of peaceful protesters were arrested this month in central Baku during rallies and marches demanding democracy and the resignation of the government.

"A stern crackdown of freedom of expression, dissent, NGOs, critical journalists, in fact anyone who criticizes the Aliyev regime too strongly, and we've seen this continue right up until the Eurovision Song Contest," Amnesty International Europe and Central Asia director John Dalhuisen told Reuters.

But senior Azeri officials responded to allegations by calling them "anti-Azeri propaganda."

"Their conclusions do not correspond with reality", said Ali Hasanov, head of the public and political issues department at the presidential administration.

The government is also under fire from Islamic figures as well who object to the Eurovision pageant. Senior Iranian cleric Ayatollah Sobhani has issued a statement urging Muslims in the region to protest what he described as "anti-Islamic behavior."

The song contest, which is a major show business event in many participating countries, has also been marred by the decision of Armenia to pull out of the contest this month.

The move underscored tensions over Nagorno-Karabakh, a mainly Armenian-populated enclave inside Azerbaijan that Armenian forces seized control of after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The economic crisis in Europe is a factor in this year's competition. The home country of the winner must host the competition next year. According to ITV, Spain's entry, Pastora Soler, was asked "not to win" by her country's public television channel because the country would not be able to afford to host the elaborate ceremony.

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