The Swiss voice in the world since 1935
Top stories
Stay in touch with Switzerland

Another rejection for planned Covid protest march

protest
Silent protestors at an event in Wohlen, canton Bern, in February. Keystone / Urs Flueeler

Authorities in the north-eastern Swiss town of Rapperswil have turned down an application for a Covid-19 demonstration next month – the second refusal for a march following a large gathering at Liestal in canton Basel Country ten days ago.

Members of the “Stiller Protest” (Silent Protest) group had hoped to hold a protest in the St Gallen town on April 24, as the latest in a line of protests which have been growing in size.

However, local authorities on Tuesday rejected the idea, saying that not only were current Covid case numbers going up in the country, but that experience of recent demonstrations showed that sanitary rules (social distancing and mask-wearing) are not respected by participants.

On March 20, some 8,000 people showed up in Liestal in canton Basel Country for a protest march organised by the same group; there, coronavirus measures were barely respected, the Rapperswil authorities said in their rejection note on Tuesday.

More

The Rapperswil authorities also said that the projected 1,000 participants cited as an estimate by the applicants was “clearly too low”.

Since the first event organised by “Stiller Protest” last October, where 50 people showed up in Zurich, their geographic reach and numbers have been growing almost exponentially. A fortnight ago, 4,000 people marched in Chur in Canton Graubünden.

The current decision also comes after a rejection, last week, by authorities in the central canton of Uri of an anti-Covid demonstration which was to be held on farmland on April 10. There, some 10,000 people were projected to turn up.

Current Covid situation

Under current Covid-19 rules in Switzerland, outdoor gatherings of up to 15 people are permitted in public. Larger political demonstrations are allowed, provided they receive the go-ahead from local authorities. Private gatherings are limited to 10 people.

Patrick Mathys, head of crisis management at the Federal Office of Public Health, told a press conference on Tuesday that the virus situation in Switzerland was “uncertain”.

“Unfortunately, the number of cases in Switzerland continues to rise; hospitalisations and deaths are currently relatively stable,” he said.

The number of new infections has risen slowly since the end of February. On Tuesday, the number of confirmed new cases of coronavirus in Switzerland was reported to be 1,923. The seven-day average (1,782) was up by 19% on the same day last week. The reproduction rate stands at 1.19.

Just over half a million Swiss residents are fully vaccinated, around 6.2% of the population.

More

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

Porrentruy swimming pool: the town's mayor was not expecting such controversy

More

Porrentruy mayor comments on Swiss pool ban controversy

This content was published on The mayor of the Swiss town of Porrentruy, which has been in the headlines in neighbouring France after restricting access to a pool to locals after a spate of anti-social behaviour, says he has received much support in recent days.

Read more: Porrentruy mayor comments on Swiss pool ban controversy
Trained on the “Alps” supercomputer at the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS) in Lugano, the new LLM marks a milestone in open-source AI and multilingual excellence, according to its developers.

More

Swiss universities to release multilingual AI programme

This content was published on This summer researchers at Swiss universities will make available a large language model (LLM), an AI programme trained on vast amounts of data, developed on public infrastructure.

Read more: Swiss universities to release multilingual AI programme
Zurich cantonal police introduce fixed online police stations

More

Zurich introduces online police station

This content was published on After a one-year test phase, Zurich's cantonal police are introducing an online police station. Demand is high and the response from the public has been positive.

Read more: Zurich introduces online police station
St. Moritz registers the summer as a brand

More

St Moritz registers ‘summer’ as trademark

This content was published on The chic resort of St Moritz in southeastern Switzerland has registered "summer" as a trademark under the name "St Summer". The resort in canton Graubünden is launching a campaign to strengthen its summer business.

Read more: St Moritz registers ‘summer’ as trademark
House prices rose sharply in June

More

Swiss house prices rose sharply in June

This content was published on The prices of homes and apartments in Switzerland rose again in June. In the Lake Geneva region, prices of detached houses rose sharply. Meanwhile, in Zurich and its surrounding region the opposite trend was observed.

Read more: Swiss house prices rose sharply in June
Heavy crowds expected at Swiss airports

More

Crowded airports expected in Switzerland this summer

This content was published on Switzerland's main airports are preparing for a busy summer holiday period. A number of changes have been introduced to improve passenger flows that are expected to be well above average in July and August.

Read more: Crowded airports expected in Switzerland this summer

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

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.

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

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