Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

Hundreds protest over restaurant closures

marchers past empty restaurant
Restaurant owners fear they may be shut down until March, with devastating effects on businesses and jobs. Keystone / Martial Trezzini

Up to 600 restaurant owners have protested in the western Swiss city of Neuchâtel in anger at a possible extension to the end of February of their shutdown.

The authorised demonstration was peaceful and drew 500 to 600 people, according to the organisers. They said representatives from the sports and cultural sectors and members of political parties joined the masked protestors.

They had been called via a Facebook page to protest in “anger at the authorities’ management of the health crisis”.

Restaurant owner and organizer of the protest Laurent Tschanz said restaurants were being targeted as a source of Covid-19 infections because “they are the only sector required to do contact tracing. An infected person could have got infected anywhere, for example in a supermarket, but it’s the restaurant that has taken details which has to close and is considered responsible”.

Third shutdown

Restaurants in Neuchâtel, like in other parts of western French-speaking Switzerland, are currently in their third shutdown, after being allowed to reopen for some two weeks in December. Businesses in this part of the country, which had higher numbers of Covid-19 cases this autumn, have been harder hit than elsewhere, but all restaurants have been closed since December 22.

Initially announced for a month, the federal government is now considering extending the shutdown until March, with an announcement expected next week. It is also expected to announce new measures to help cushion the economic effects on affected sectors.   

Responding to calls for faster, simpler compensation, economics minister Guy Parmelin, who also assumed the rotating Swiss presidency at the beginning of the year, has ruled out a new mechanism. The system must be simplified rather than creating a new one, so that funds can flow quickly, he told Swiss public broadcaster SRF on Friday evening.

More


Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

No Swiss bank in phase with environmental objectives

More

Swiss banks failing environment, says WWF

This content was published on None of the 15 major Swiss retail banks is meeting international climate and biodiversity targets, according to a ranking by WWF Switzerland.

Read more: Swiss banks failing environment, says WWF
UNRWA provides emergency assistance to just over one million Palestine refugees, or about 75 per cent of all Palestine refugees in Gaza, who lack the financial means to cover their basic food.

More

Lazzarini: no alternative to UNRWA in Gaza

This content was published on The only alternative to the UN Palestinian agency’s work in Gaza is to allow Israel to run services there, Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General, told reporters in Geneva on Monday.

Read more: Lazzarini: no alternative to UNRWA in Gaza

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR