The travellers refused the orders of the Vaud and Valais cantonal police to exit the motorway. Consequently, the police decided to block the convoy at Saint-Maurice.
Keystone-SDA
Select your language
Generated with artificial intelligence.
Listening: Swiss police block traveller convoy on motorway
Around 50 caravans belonging to members of a travelling community attempting to enter canton Valais in southern Switzerland without prior warning were blocked by police on the motorway to prevent their unauthorised entry.
This content was published on
3 minutes
Keystone-SDA
Français
fr
Valais: les gens du voyage ont rebroussé chemin, autoroute rouverte
Original
At around 11:30am on Tuesday several dozen caravans with French number plates belonging to travellers were driving on the A9 motorway from canton Vaud towards Saint-Maurice, the Valais cantonal police reported.
From Villeneuve, the travellers refused the orders of the Vaud and Valais cantonal police to exit the motorway. Consequently, the police decided to block the convoy at Saint-Maurice.
Valais has only one official site for travellers, located in Martigny, and it is currently fully occupied. “We do not tolerate illegal settlements,” the Valais police said.
In order to prevent access to canton Valais, the police deployed a major operation. For safety reasons, the motorway section between Bex and Saint-Maurice towards Sion and between Martigny and Bex towards Vevey was closed.
A diversion was set up on local cantonal roads causing traffic jams. The Valais police also activated plan COBRA, a general mobilisation of all units of the Valais cantonal police.
The traveller community in question had left canton Neuchâtel earlier on Tuesday morning, where they had stayed. They had previously contacted the owner of a field in Gampel, canton Valais, where they hoped to stay. However, the local council refused. The owner in turn terminated the contract.
After an eight-hour stand-off with the police, the 150 travellers finally turned around and headed back with their caravans to Vue-des-Alpes, canton Neuchâtel, from where they had originally come from. They were escorted by the Vaud police.
The travellers’ lawyer, Pierre Ventura, said there was no justification for the Valais police blocking the motorway. “These are French citizens who, under the terms of the free movement of persons agreement, are allowed to travel on Swiss territory,” he told told Swiss public television, RTS.
Translated from French by DeepL/sb
How we work
We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate them into English. An editor then briefly reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.
In Switzerland more people are being referred to electrical therapies or psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Are there similar approaches where you live?
This content was published on
A Geneva-registered tourist plane grazed some ski mountaineers on Saturday on a glacier on the Swiss side of the Monte Rosa massif.
Sharp rise in reports of suspicious sports betting in Switzerland
This content was published on
Last year the Intercantonal Gambling Supervisory Authority received 184 reports of suspicious activities in connection with 166 sports competitions.
Swiss fencers apologise for diplomatic scandal with Israel
This content was published on
Two days after causing a diplomatic scandal at the U23 European Championships in Tallinn, the Swiss fencers responsible have published a jointly signed apology on Instagram.
Air in climbing gyms more polluted than on streets
This content was published on
The concentration of potentially harmful chemicals in climbing gyms is sometimes higher than on busy roads, say researchers from Switzerland and Austria.
This content was published on
Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) achieved slightly higher sales at the start of the year. However, profits fell sharply, partly due to the late Easter.
Switzerland’s first padel court on water built in Arosa
This content was published on
Switzerland's first padel tennis court on water will open on the Obersee in Arosa, canton Graubünden, for the 2025 summer season.
This content was published on
Wine consumption in Switzerland fell by almost 8% in 2024 compared to the previous year. Swiss wines are particularly affected by the decline.
Jackie Chan to be honoured for life’s work at Locarno Film Festival
This content was published on
Martial artist Jackie Chan will receive an Honorary Leopard, a lifetime achievement award, from the Locarno Film Festival in southern Switzerland in August.
Novartis raises forecast again after strong Q1 results
This content was published on
Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis has continued the strong pace of growth of recent quarters in the first three months of 2025.
Swiss canton holds first general meeting on winegrowing
This content was published on
More than 250 professionals attended the first general meeting of the Valais wine industry on Monday in Conthey, western Switzerland.
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.