In 2022 there were more demonstrations than ever before

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“Fight against capital” or “rent is theft”: on May 1, left-wing groups have been mobilizing for weeks – to fight the housing shortage, the climate crisis and inflation.

It should be exciting on Monday, because demonstrations have escalated several times in recent months. A month ago, during an unauthorized rally in Zurich, masked people vandalized emergency vehicles, destroyed shops and injured police officers. In Basel, too, there were increasingly wild scenes as police officers and demonstrators clashed.

Last year there were more demos than ever in Switzerland. This is shown by a survey by SonntagsBlick in seven cities. Both Basel and Bern and St. Gallen reached new peaks in 2022. In total, there were 1564 demonstrations in these cities – more than four demonstrations per day.

Young SVP argues for passing on demo costs

The new will to protest costs money. Last year, the deployment costs for demos in Zurich amounted to 3.1 million francs. This is evident from new figures, which the city police evaluated on behalf of SonntagsBlick. The year 2021 was even more expensive at CHF 5.3 million. The police justifies this with more unauthorized demonstrations and corona restrictions.

In 2021, the police of Bern – in the federal city there are traditionally frequent and lively demonstrations – came at a cost of no less than seven million francs. The demonstration alone on the day of the vote on the Covid law at the end of November caused an expenditure of about 400,000 francs. The past year has not yet been evaluated.

Now the call for passing on demo costs is getting louder. In the foreground: the young SVP.

In Basel and Zurich, with its “anti-chaotic initiative”, it demands that all costs for police operations, property damage and other damages be passed on to the organizers and participants. In Basel, demos will only be approved in the future if tram traffic in the city center is not disrupted too much. The stricter rules restrict both violent and peaceful demonstrations equally.

But do such demands bring the financial relief they promise? In Bern it has recently been possible to pass on the costs, as demanded by the SVP youth.

In a precedent, six demonstrators who had protested against corona measures without permission in the fall of 2021 were sentenced at the beginning of this year to share in the costs of law enforcement authorities. The amounts are between 200 and 1000 francs. So only a few thousand francs flowed back – and that with police costs of several hundred thousand francs.

Soccer games are even more expensive

Even the procedural costs are likely to exceed the revenue. However, Bern’s security service cannot provide any information on this, as the costs are not recorded in detail. Nine files with cost transfers between 200 and 300 francs are still pending.

Safety director Reto Nause (51, Die Mitte) spoke at the introduction about the “preventive character” of the new measure – it is about deterrence.

Like Zurich, the city of Lucerne has a so-called expense allowance if violence is used during demonstrations. As a spokesman explained when asked, the rule has not been applied once since its introduction in 2017 – because there has been no violence since then.

Biel BE takes a different approach: the city rejected the passing on of the costs at the end of last year because it curtailed the right to expression, which is a fundamental right.

Incidentally, there is one item in Zurich that costs the city even more than demos: football matches. The police costs for this amounted to CHF 3.3 million last year, a new record. In 2021 it was CHF 1.5 million.

The reason: Since the 2021/2022 season, both GC and FCZ have been playing in the Super League again. That means more risky games and therefore a greater police presence.

Source:Blick