Carnival celebrations have been suspended in the southern Swiss town of Locarno after the death of a local reveller who was severely beaten on Friday night by three men.

Mayor Carla Speziali announced on Saturday the cancellation of the festivities, which began on Thursday and were supposed to end on Tuesday.

"This type of random violence is not acceptable and has deeply shocked the population," Speziali told Swiss public radio.

The 22-year-old victim, Damiano Tamagni, was diagnosed as brain dead upon his arrival at the local hospital. A student at Zurich University, he died on Saturday after his transfer to Lugano's hospital.

The three attackers, aged from 19 to 24, were arrested a few hours after the aggression in Locarno, which also hosts Switzerland's biggest film festival each summer.

On Sunday, around 1,000 people took part in remembrance march for the victim from the town's central square to the local hospital.

Carnival, the pre-Lenten festivities celebrated across much of Switzerland, is a major event in Italian-speaking Switzerland, with many locals taking leave to participate.

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