PARIS: The wave of unrest and rioting that has swept across France in recent days has now reached Switzerland and Belgium, escalating tensions in the region.
Following disturbances in Belgium earlier in the week, the Swiss city of Lausanne experienced clashes between police and groups of protesters, largely composed of young individuals reminiscent of the profile of rioters in France. The events led to the detention of seven people, primarily teenagers, after several shop windows were smashed.
Approximately 100 individuals gathered in central Lausanne on Saturday night, where confrontations unfolded between the youth and law enforcement. The protesters hurled paving stones and at least one Molotov cocktail at officers, resulting in a statement from the police acknowledging the echoes of the ongoing riots in France. The Lausanne police expressed that the violence emerged following social media calls, with shop windows being targeted and police officers being confronted by aggressive, hooded individuals throwing projectiles.
Switzerland and Belgium Protests
A Lausanne police spokesperson stated, “Quite clearly, what emerges from what we have seen is that these young people during the night were inspired by the situation in France.” Pierre-Antoine Hildbrand, the Lausanne councillor responsible for security matters, condemned the organized attempts to loot shops, emphasizing that there was no justification for such actions.
Swiss police detained six individuals, aged between 15 and 17, including three girls and three boys with various citizenships. Additionally, a 24-year-old Swiss man was also apprehended. Fortunately, no police officers were injured during the clashes.
Meanwhile, in the Belgian capital of Brussels, approximately a dozen people were detained, and authorities managed to bring several fires under control. The unrest in France has persisted for five consecutive nights, with serious clashes between police and rioters occurring in Marseille overnight. The initial trigger for the disturbances was the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old boy of Algerian descent by the police in the Paris suburb of Nanterre on Friday.
The spread of protests and violence beyond France’s borders into Switzerland and Belgium has raised concerns about the potential for further escalation and calls for greater attention to the underlying issues fueling the unrest in the region.
