A Swiss member of parliament has criticised Switzerland's security operation at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, saying police heavy-handedness has damaged the country's reputation.

"Newspapers around the world have shown images portraying a Switzerland that is barricaded, closed and brutal," Pierre-Yves Maillard told delegates at the World Social Forum in Porto Allegre in Brazil, an alternative summit to Davos.

Maillard, a Social Democrat member of parliament, said that the Swiss contingent "condemned the police brutality."

Earlier, Maillard told swissinfo that he was "shocked and ashamed when the participants asked them what had happened in Switzerland."

The six members of parliament and two cantonal deputies affirmed "their solidarity with all those fighting for change in the world."

The tight police operation which thwarted protests at the business forum in Davos on Saturday, and the violence which broke out afterwards in a number of Swiss cities have sparked controversy in Switzerland.

Maillard added that "Davos has shown its face, Porto Alegre had shown its own too, let the people of the world decide. Davos has lost, we have won."

By Claudine

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