Violence and threats against politicians in Switzerland
Published: Sunday, Jul 14th 2024, 11:40
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Physical attacks on Swiss politicians are rare, but have occurred from time to time in the past. The number of threats has recently declined. Nevertheless, the Federal Office of Police (Fedpol) registered an average of one report of a suspected threat almost every day last year.
For example, Fedpol received 290 threat reports last year, 238 fewer than in 2022. During the coronavirus pandemic, when resentment towards politicians was particularly evident, there were 1215 reports.
However, the content of the threats has recently been worrying and the tone has been particularly hateful, Fedpol wrote in its 2023 annual report. In 62 cases, the authority classified the threats as so serious that it took measures. These included issuing warnings to those posing a threat, border withdrawal letters and criminal charges.
Polarizing topics relating to politics in Switzerland and the world led to heated discussions, particularly on social media, Fedpol reported. This can lead to emotional reactions that regularly result in threats against people in need of federal protection.
App for parliamentarians
Since fall 2022, members of parliament and magistrates have been able to submit a report via an app created by Fedpol, which forwards the information directly to the Federal Security Service.
There have been several assassinations and attacks on politicians in Switzerland in the past. The most blatant case in recent history occurred in 2001 in the Zug cantonal parliament, when a gunman stormed into the chamber, killed three members of the government and eleven members of parliament and injured 15 people, some of them critically, before shooting himself dead.
In mid-September 2021, angry citizens - mainly opponents of the authorities' coronavirus measures - attempted to storm the Federal Palace. The police used water cannons, tear gas and rubber bullets. There were injuries.
National Council maltreated with fists and feet
In 2019, SVP politicians and "Weltwoche" authors Christoph Mörgeli and Roger Köppel were attacked by left-wing extremists. They showered the politicians with drinks in Zurich's Café Sphères.
In the run-up to the SVP Albisgüetl conference on January 21, 2011, the then National Councillor Hans Fehr was attacked by several people wearing black masks, thrown to the ground and beaten with punches and kicks. The attackers were allegedly members of the autonomous left-wing scene.
On August 1, 2007, an explosive device detonated after the federal celebration on the Rütli. No one was injured; the then SP Federal Councillor Micheline Calmy-Rey was present at the celebration. The perpetrator of the attack - apparently a lone offender - was later arrested.
Federal Council pelted with eggs
In 1990, the then FDP Federal Councillor Kaspar Villiger was received by a group of "Béliers" in Pruntrut JU, where he was pelted with tomatoes and eggs and told to "go back to the Swiss swamp and stay there". He remained unharmed.
In 1984, a bomb detonated at night at the house of the then FDP Federal Councillor Rudolf Friedrich. The damage was less than CHF 20,000 and no one was injured. At the end of July 1998, Friedrich's weekend home in Winterthur burned to the ground. Investigators assumed it was arson.
In the same year, there was also an attack on the house of Hedi Lang, then a member of Zurich's SP government council. She escaped with the horrors.
©Keystone/SDA
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