Liberal Green party members criticise handling of Ameti affair

Since apologising for firing shots at an image of Jesus and Mary, Ameti has been the target of sometimes violent social media attacks and is under police protection. Keystone / Peter Klaunzer

The leadership of the Liberal Green party initiated exclusion proceedings against Zurich politician Sanija Ameti on Monday, after she fired gunshots at an image of Jesus and Mary. The decision has sparked misgivings within the party. Some members feel that the leadership reacted too quickly and too strongly.

‘Normally, before communicating, you weigh up the pros and cons, talk to the people concerned and try to understand,” says Benjamin Gautschi, a member of the Liberal Greens in Zurich. He says he does not recognise his party in its handling of the affair.

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Gautschi points out Ameti’s provocative personality. In his opinion, a party cannot take advantage of the attention generated by such a personality and then drop her so quickly when she makes a mistake.

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Unofficially, several Liberal Greens in French-speaking Switzerland are saying the same thing. While they recognise that Ameti’s actions were problematic, some feel that the way the case was handled at national level is completely out of step with the party’s values. The Zurich politician has been accused of committing blasphemy, yet a few years ago her party had sought to remove the article condemning this type of behaviour from the Criminal Code.

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According to critics, the party has also gone beyond its prerogatives by calling for the exclusion of Ameti, even though this decision should have been taken by the Zurich section of the party. They are concerned about this intrusion into cantonal affairs.

Ameti under police protection

Since firing practice gun shots at the image, and later apologising, Ameti has become the target of sometimes violent attacks on social media. She has been placed under police protection following death and rape threats. This was already happening on Monday when the Swiss Liberal Green party issued a statement.

But the party presidency has not condemned these attacks or expressed support for Ameti. For many Liberal Greens, this shows Ameti has been let down. Some party members have expressed their dissatisfaction to the party leadership.

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The party’s vice-president for French-speaking Switzerland, Céline Weber, says that the party now wants to handle the matter internally. And internally, the presidency seems to have wanted to show that it was listening to some of the criticism from its base.

In a newsletter sent to members on Wednesday evening, it wrote what some would have hoped to have heard on Monday: “the Swiss Liberal Green Party condemns the threats and hateful comments made against Sanija Ameti in the strongest possible terms”.

Adapted from French by DeepL/gw

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