Protests in Zurich and Basel end in fires, barricades and clashes with police

In brief

• Several hundred people built barricades and set fires in Zurich and Basel on the evening of 31 October.
• In Basel, about 150 people marched through the city centre, forcing public transport to be temporarily halted.
• Zurich police said an aggressive crowd attacked officers with fireworks, stones and bottles; officers used water cannons, tear gas and rubber bullets.
• Journalists reported that left-wing radical groups circulated the call to protest in Zurich, an attribution not independently confirmed.

Barricades and fires in two Swiss cities

On the evening of Saturday, 31 October, unrest broke out in several Swiss cities. Several hundred protesters took to the streets of Zurich and Basel, building barricades from rubbish containers and electric scooters and setting them alight (Палаючі барикади та сльозогінний газ: одну з країн Європи сколихнули масові протести – TSN).

In Basel, about 150 people marched through the city centre, forcing public transport to be temporarily halted.

Clashes with police in Zurich

In Zurich, the protests centred on the Langstrasse and Helvetiaplatz areas. According to city police, an aggressive crowd attacked officers with fireworks, stones and bottles. Officers responded with water cannons, tear gas and rubber bullets.

Windows and other property were damaged, and unknown people set a car on fire on one street. Shortly before midnight, a patrol car that had been called to a medical emergency was attacked (Хеллоуин в Швейцарии: поджоги, погромы и столкновения с полицией – Zerkalo).

Who called the protest

Journalists reported that left-wing radical groups circulated the call to join the demonstration in Zurich. The attribution comes from media coverage of the unrest and has not been independently confirmed.

The unrest came as part of a wider wave of protests in Europe. In France, demonstrations against high prices and cuts to social protection began on 18 October and drew at least 550,000 people.