Organisers of pro-Palestinian protest in Bern demand investigation into violence

BE: pro-Pal demonstration, organisers complain of police violence Keystone-SDA

The movements that organised last Saturday’s pro-Palestinian demonstration in Bern denounced the police violence. According to them, the number of injured demonstrators stands at 256.

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In a statement today, the 30 or so organisations involved, including Waves of Freedom, which is responsible for the Swiss flotilla for Gaza, expressed their views on the clashes that rocked the federal city.

“Having observed a distorted media treatment, we wish to give our version of the facts,” reads the note. The Bernese police allegedly applied “brutality without half-measures”, particularly at the moment when demonstrators were making their way back to the station.

“On the one hand a water cannon was fired, on the other hand the demonstrators were hit with pepper spray and batons,” an incident that reportedly resulted in numerous injuries among the demonstrators, who found themselves separated into two groups.

At that point, part of the group was surrounded by the security forces, who, according to the organisers, deprived the demonstrators of their basic rights for almost twelve hours. During this time they were allegedly not allowed access to toilets, nor were food and blankets distributed despite the 7°C temperature, while the number of water bottles available was insufficient. The coalition of associations claims that cases of hypothermia also occurred during this time.

The organisers are now demanding firm protection of the right to demonstrate and an “immediate, independent and impartial” investigation into the behaviour of the police on Saturday.

Translated from Italian by DeepL/jdp

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