Der Tag der Arbeit verläuft in Zürich nach einem bekannten Muster
Published: Wednesday, May 1st 2024, 19:20
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May Day in Zurich was marked by a peaceful official procession and an unauthorized demonstration after the event. Several people were arrested.
Labor Day began in the morning with the official parade of the Zurich Federation of Trade Unions. This mobilized with the slogan "Capitalism makes you sick", primarily for a Yes to the premium relief initiative on 9 June.
Around 10,000 people marched peacefully from Helvetiaplatz to Sechseläuteplatz. However, some people wearing masks caused damage to property. The shop windows of Credit Suisse, UBS, Franz Carl Weber, Müller Drogeriemarkt and Läderach were sprayed. According to a statement from the city police, a window was smashed on Bahnhofstrasse.
As always, many other groups joined the parade, including a large "Palestine block" this year.
Mostly masked
Left-wing radicals had called for an unauthorized rally on Langstrasse in the afternoon. According to the city police, several dozen people, most of them wearing masks, gathered at 3 pm.
The police were on the scene with a large contingent. They surrounded the people, as a reporter from the Keystone-SDA news agency discovered at the scene.
The police wrote that they had been able to stop the rally thanks to a rapid deployment. New groups then formed, which dispersed again when the police approached.
According to the observations of a reporter from the Keystone-SDA news agency, it was the well-known cat-and-mouse game between left-wing extremists and the police. Numerous onlookers followed the events. The police recommended on platform X to stay away from the demonstration.
Nine arrests
Several dozen people were checked, turned away and reported for taking part in an unauthorized demonstration, the police said. By early evening, they had arrested nine people for further investigation and taken them to a police station.
In a statement, Juso Zurich criticized the actions of the police as "contrary to human rights". For them, "the revolutionary aftermath is an important sign". The participants showed that they wanted to overcome capitalism, which is responsible for the multiple crises.
The SVP of the canton of Zurich, on the other hand, expressed its "concern" about the renewed riots in a press release. It called for May 1 to be abolished as a cantonal public holiday and for "Sächsilüüten-Montag" to be declared a public holiday instead.
©Keystone/SDA
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