Violence Erupts at Swiss Rally

by Jordan Yerman | October 6, 2007 at 11:57 am

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Violence flared in the Swiss capital of Bern as left-wing protesters tried to stop a pre-election campaign event by the nationalist Swiss People's Party.

Police fired tear gas as demonstrators hurled rocks and bottles in front of parliament to interrupt a march and rally by about 5,000 SVP supporters.

The SVP has been recently criticised for its hard-line views on immigration.

Its campaign posters - showing white sheep kicking a black sheep off a Swiss flag - have stirred controversy.

The party, which has campaigned against minarets in Swiss cities, condemned the violence as contrary to the country's democratic tradition.

I find the SVP's public response somewhat disingenuous: in using such a blatantly racist motif, they had to expect a heated reaction of some kind. The image to the left (found on The Media Vendetta)is a clearer version of the poster shown in BBC's article; it translates to "Create Security".

SVP, you're making it very difficult for me not to editorialize here.

Some more coverage:

There have been clashes in Switzerland between police and leftist activists who were protesting against an election rally by the right wing Swiss People's Party. Police moved in to clear demonstrators after they blocked the square outside the parliament in Berne where the rally was to be held.

With two weeks to the election, the Swiss People's Party is leading the polls by around four percent. Leader Christoph Blocher lashed out at the protestors as aggressors who could not tolerate the views of others. His party's campaign has featured a poster portraying foreigners as black sheep being kicked out of the country by white sheep.