More than two-thirds of Swiss residents believe violent young foreign criminals should be forced to leave Switzerland, according to a poll by three Sunday newspapers.

But the survey, carried out a few days after a carnival reveller was beaten to death by three foreign-born men in Locarno, found that most people don't feel insecure.

Only just over a quarter of the 913 people polled said they opposed expelling these criminals, while five per cent said they weren't sure what to answer.

In German-speaking Switzerland, 72 per cent said they were in favour of expulsion measures, a figure that drops to 60 per cent in the French-speaking part of the country. In Italian-speaking Ticino, where the 22-year-old student died, two-thirds backed a tough stance against violent foreigners.

According to the Demoscope pollsters, there was no difference in results between Swiss citizens and foreign residents.

Around half of respondents said more educational measures were required, while less than a quarter thought that harsher penalties were necessary. One in five people thought parents should be punished too.

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