Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

Swiss cities ban rallies due to Middle East conflict

Gaza
Demostrations have been restricted in Switzerland. Keystone / Mohammed Saber

In view of the tense security situation in the wake of the war in the Middle East, several cities have imposed bans on demonstrations. No demonstrations related to the Middle East conflict are allowed in Zurich this week. Basel generally prohibits rallies.

The ban therefore also applies to a demonstration by anti-corona measures planned for Saturday in Basel, as a cantonal police spokesman confirmed to the Keystone-SDA news agency. A trinational rally was planned under the name “Demo for Peace, Freedom and Sovereignty,” which was initially approved. At the same time, anti-fascist groups called for a counter demonstration.

Seven requests for demonstrations related to the Middle East conflict have been received in Zurich this week, a spokesman for the security department told Keystone-SDA.

The general order banning demonstrations applies from Friday 5 pm to Sunday midnight. Standing rallies and vigils are then also prohibited, as the police write.

Police assess the “probability of personal injury and property damage during rallies as very high.” The risk is therefore too great for both demonstrators and passers-by, police and rescue workers, according to the announcements from the city of Zurich and the canton of Basel City.

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.

External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
Daily news

Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox.

Daily

The SBC Privacy Policy provides additional information on how your data is processed.


Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

The MPC is to close the investigation against Lauener and Walder

More

Swiss prosecutors to close ‘Covid leaks’ probe

This content was published on A criminal investigation into a Swiss media editor and a former health ministry official over leaked government Covid pandemic strategy is to be closed.

Read more: Swiss prosecutors to close ‘Covid leaks’ probe

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