Swiss asylum centres deal with rise in security incidents
The number of security-related incidents in federal asylum centres reached a new high last year in Switzerland.
The number of incidents has doubled since 2020, rising from 672 incidents that year to 1368 cases in 2023, according to the Sunday weekly NZZ am Sonntag, which cited official figures.
The State Secretariat for Migration pointed out that these are absolute figures and that the incidents per overnight stay have decreased.
According to the newspaper, security-related incidents range from arguments to harassment and assault. According to the migration authoritis, 70% of incidents were caused by asylum-seekers from North Africa.
Asylum applications from this region have increased sharply since 2021 and are usually rejected.
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