Militant animal rights activities are on the increase in Switzerland but only a minority want to close slaughterhouses.
The Federal Intelligence Service has registered a growing number of violent incidents in 2018 compared with the previous five years, according to a report in the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper group.
The report does not give detailed figures but points out that militants are particularly active in the French-speaking part of the country.
It also mentions a major incident in the German-speaking part of Switzerland last November when more than 100 animal rights activists blocked a slaughterhouse of the leading Bell food group for a day.
The protest prompted calls by the meat processing industry for tougher sanctions against militants.
However, a recent opinion poll commissioned by an animal rights group, Tier im Fokus, found only 17% of respondents supporting a closure of all slaughterhouses in Switzerland.
But three out of four respondents came out against intensive livestock breeding, according to the Tages-Anzeiger.
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