Police shut down extreme rightwing gathering

The gathering was broken up without problems Keystone

A meeting of rightwing extremists in canton Valais in southern Switzerland was broken up by police on Saturday after the ‘Nationalism Conference’ went ahead without permission from the authorities.

Around 60 people gathered in a cafeteria in Saxon near Martigny in canton Valais. The authorities brought in 80 officers to disperse the group.

A spokesperson for the cantonal police said the gathering had not been registered in advance and therefore was also not allowed.

The police intervention took around two hours and passed without incident. A public prosecutor was also present. After the people were identified they were asked to leave the canton. The majority of those present were from western Switzerland, a few from canton Valais and a few from France.

The police said in a media release later that evening that they were looking into who was responsible for the event.

On Wednesday the authorities in neighbouring canton Vaud had denied the group a permit to stage the event there. The decision was based on the risk posed to public order.

Other cantons in western Switzerland had put police officers on standby in case the gathering moved to their area, but these standby officers were not needed. The event comes just weeks after 5,000 people attended a controversial rock concert in eastern Switzerland featuring Swiss and German far-right bands.