Thousands of protesters in Swiss cities demand climate action

Climate protesters in Lucerne took to the streets on their bicycles. KEYSTONE / URS FLUEELER

Thousands of activists took to the streets in five Swiss cities on Friday to protest against fossil fuel infrastructure and climate-damaging investments. The demonstrations were part of the "global climate strike".

Despite the rain, an estimated 5,000 people took part in the authorised demonstrations for climate justice in Zurich, Bern, Lucerne, Aarau and Sion, the Climate Strike movement announced on Friday evening. The demonstrators denounced, in particular, Switzerland’s financing of fossil fuel infrastructure.

According to the municipal police, around 600 people gathered for the demonstration in Zurich. They marched peacefully from Helvetiaplatz to Paradeplatz and back. The Elders for the Climate were present alongside many young people, news agency Keystone SDA reported. Traffic in the city centre was severely disrupted.

In Bern, around 1,200 people marched through the old town. A band played during the final demonstration on the parliament square. In Lucerne, around 60 people cycled around the city.

Demonstrators denounce political ‘inaction’

Politicians do not have the means to take the necessary climate protection measures, said Bern Climate Strike. This is despite the fact that the consequences of global warming are increasingly being felt, particularly in lower-income countries. Throughout the world, forest fires, floods, droughts and other disasters are becoming more frequent and more devastating.

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In Switzerland, too, the end of the fossil age is nowhere in sight. Despite a ruling by the Federal Administrative Court against a reserve power plant in Birr, northern Switzerland, the government wants to build another fossil-fired reserve power plant. The Climate Strike sees this decision as an “act of irresponsibility”. It is calling for an end to fossil fuels and a socially just energy transition.

Activists also criticised the banks for continuing to inject money into “destructive fossil fuel projects”, thereby fuelling the climate crisis. By financing existing or planned fossil fuel infrastructures abroad, the Swiss financial centre is behind 20 times more emissions than Switzerland as a whole, they estimated.

Translated from French by DeepL/gw

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