GENEVA, Switzerland — Hundreds of protesters marched in Switzerland’s largest city Saturday
to protest COVID-19 restrictions, while several thousand others rallied against
the demonstrators, calling them “Nazis”, Swiss media reported.
اضافة اعلان
Video footage
showed Zurich police were out in force against the two demonstrations, both
illegal, using tear gas, pepper spray, water cannons, and firing rubber bullets
to disperse the crowds and making arrests.
The demonstration
against Switzerland’s COVID-19 measures, which are in the process of being
lifted, had been expected to start at the train station in the early afternoon,
prompting a large group of counter-demonstrators to gather nearby.
In the end, the
anti-COVID-19 crowd kicked off its demonstration in an another part of the
city, but that did not stop the leftwing counter-demonstrators from marching
and chanting their slogan: “Keep Zurich Nazi-free.”
Police could not
immediately provide a tally for how many took part, but the ATS news agency
estimated several thousand people gathered for the counter-demonstration.
They marched
through the city by various routes, disrupting traffic and clashing with
police.
“Some
participants in the unauthorized demonstration tried to break through the
police barriers. That is why the water cannon, rubber bullets and tear gas were
used,” the Zurich city police tweeted.
At the same time,
police said they had detained a large group of rightwing extremists “prepared
to use violence” in Zurich’s Old Town.
Police also stopped a
crowd of protesters against COVID-19 measures downtown, took down their
information and asked them to halt their demonstration.
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