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Police launch anti-police violence campaign

Police are calling for tougher punishments to be dished out to people who perpetrate violence against them.

Launching a campaign “Stop violence against police”, the Swiss Police Federation said incidents of violence against police had increased 160 per cent over ten years, up from 776 incidents in 2000 to more than 2,000 incidents in 2008.

“We want to make people understand that violence directed towards a uniform always hurts a person,” federation vice-president Jean-Marc Widmer told a press conference in Bern on Thursday.

Police are calling for the unconditional reintroduction of short prison terms, and increase in the minimum fine and a doubling of the punishment in the case of repeat offenders.

Information stands about the campaign have been set up in Lugano, Winterthur and Lausanne.

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SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR