Thousands of people participated in Palestine demonstrations in Swiss cities.
Published: Saturday, Oct 28th 2023, 16:51
Updated At: Sunday, Oct 29th 2023, 01:54
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Thousands of people in the cities of Bern, Zurich, Basel, Geneva, Lausanne and Bellinzona showed solidarity with the people in the Palestinian territories on Saturday. The demonstrations were largely peaceful.
In Zurich, organizers reported around 7,000 participants. The Zurich City Police stated in their announcement that several thousand people took part. In Geneva, around 1,800 people attended the rally and in Lausanne, around 2,000. In Bern, a correspondent of the news agency Keystone-SDA estimated the number of participants to be over a thousand, and in Basel and Bellinzona, around 300 people. In Basel, the demonstration was unauthorized in comparison to Bern and Zurich.
In cities across the world, demonstrators waved Palestinian flags and chanted "Free Palestine". In Zurich, the most common chant was "Free Palestine", while some demonstrators also labelled Israel a terrorist.
On hand-painted banners in Bern, slogans such as "Stop War" and "Free Palestine" could be seen. Another banner posed the question: "Do human rights apply to Palestinians too?"
The inscription is not anti-Semitic.
Participants in Basel led the procession with a banner bearing the controversial slogan "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free", as observed by a reporter from the Keystone-SDA news agency on the scene.
This slogan has been criticized for implying the destruction of Israel. However, a sign next to it read "Fight Anti-Semitism and Racism," and posters nearby made comparisons to genocide and apartheid.
In a speech in Bern, Geri Müller, former Green National Councilor from Aargau and President of the Switzerland-Palestine Society, rejected the accusation that the slogan "From the river to the sea, Palestine must be free" is anti-Semitic.
The expression is meant to convey that Palestinians could live freely in the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. The accusation of anti-Semitism is raised to silence critics.
Occasional verbal disputes.
The demonstrations in the cities were largely peaceful. Police were present everywhere.
In Basel, a brief verbal altercation occurred when two men appeared with an Israeli flag. In Zurich, a passerby insulted the participants as terrorists, as observed by a reporter from Keystone-SDA. In Bern, there were also occasional heated exchanges on the sidelines of the demonstration.
In Bern, police officers also took several people into custody who had been present at the edge of the Federal Square. The background was initially unclear. In Zurich, the police presented a person who had ignited prohibited smoke bombs to the public prosecutor's office.
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