Several hundred people join anti-WEF protests in Switzerland
The rally in Bern, which cut through the city centre, was unauthorised and drew several hundred protesters, Keystone-SDA reported.
Keystone / Anthony Anex
Select your language
Generated with artificial intelligence.
Listening: Several hundred people join anti-WEF protests in Switzerland
Several hundred opponents of the World Economic Forum (WEF) gathered in canton Graubünden and in the capital Bern on Saturday to take aim in particular at the high-profile guests of the annual meeting.
This content was published on
3 minutes
Keystone-SDA
At an unauthorised rally in Bern, several hundred protesters marched through the city centre in the afternoon, the Keystone-SDA news agency reported. The police wrote on X that there had been damage to property.
The WEF in Davos, which begins on Monday, symbolises capitalism with its climate crisis, wars, economic crises, discrimination and oppression, said the call for the demonstration by two far-left groups: the revolutionary youth of Bern (Berns Revolutionäre Jugend) and NO WEF. Participants of the forum end up discussing crises that they themselves caused, the groups argued.
More
More
WEF 2025: banking on an AI revolution to overcome protectionism
This content was published on
The World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos will try to make a case for collaboration by promising an AI revolution for all.
After just over an hour, the police called on the marching protesters to break up the demonstration. They complied with the call.
Protest march to Davos
Earlier in the day, around 350 WEF and capitalism critics set off from Küblis, in canton Graubünden, on a two-day protest hike to Davos, 25 kilometres away. The mostly young opponents of capitalism hailed mainly from Switzerland and Germany, according to Keystone-SDA. However, demonstrators from Belgium, Portugal, England and even Peru also found their way to the wintry Prättigau.
“We are criticising the elites who presume to speak for the people while millions of people are already dying from climate change,” a spokesperson for the Strike WEF collective told Keystone-SDA. The basic aim of Strike WEF is to criticise capitalism. In recent years, the demand for climate justice has also been a central theme.
Starting Monday in Davos, over 3,000 people, including top politicians, business leaders and representatives of social organisations and the media, are set to discuss global challenges over five days of the WEF annual meeting.
Adapted from German by DeepL/gw
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
What factors should be taken into account when inheriting Swiss citizenship abroad?
Should there be a limit to the passing on of Swiss citizenship? Or is the current practice too strict and it should still be possible to register after the age of 25?
Is your place of origin, your Heimatort, important to you?
Every Swiss citizen has a Heimatort, a place of origin, but many have never visited theirs. What’s your relationship with your Heimatort? What does it mean to you?
Swiss federal prosecutor bemoans shortage of investigators
This content was published on
The Swiss Office of the Attorney General complains of unresolved shortage of investigators that hinder its efforts to prosecute serious criminals.
ECHR condemns Swiss failure to protect woman from violence
This content was published on
Switzerland did not provide a woman with sufficient protection against her partner who had been violent in the past, rules the ECHR.
This content was published on
In Switzerland, 2.2 million people are affected by non-communicable diseases, partly because people are not eating a balanced diet.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.