Anti-terror costs burden Zurich Street Parade

Around 900,000 revelers turned up for the 25th edition of the parade last year Keystone

Security measures to thwart terror attacks have put Switzerland’s biggest parade – which attracts upwards of one million people a year – into the red. 

The organizers of the Zurich Street Parade said they had a deficit of CHF110,000 ($113,460) last year from a total budget of CHF2.5 million. Speaking to the Neue Zürcher Zeitung newspaper, a Street Parade spokesman blamed the high security costs for the deficit. 

The additional security measures included roadblocks, more police with machine guns, and inspections of all vehicles with permits to access the festival area. 

Security was increased last year in the aftermath of the terror attacks in Nice and Munich. 

The measures are still in effect for this year’s Street Parade, scheduled for August 12. 

The Street Parade spokesman said due to the deficit the organization would have to draw from its reserves generated in good years. To help make up for it, 2017 is the first year in the event’s 26-year history that the parade will have a corporate sponsor: Swiss supermarket chain Migros. 

Last year’s Street Parade attracted 900,000 people; in 2015 there were one million.