Violence at Swiss pre-poll rally

[[R_H]]

From BBC, Saturday October 6th

Violence flared in the Swiss capital of Bern as left-wing protesters tried to stop a pre-election campaign event by the nationalist Swiss People's Party.

Police fired tear gas as demonstrators hurled rocks and bottles in front of parliament to interrupt a march and rally by about 5,000 SVP supporters.

The SVP has been criticised recently for its hard-line views on immigration.

Its campaign posters - showing white sheep kicking a black sheep off a Swiss flag - have stirred controversy.

The party, which has campaigned against minarets in Swiss cities, condemned the violence as contrary to the country's democratic tradition.

The disorder comes two weeks before the country's 21 October parliamentary elections.

Recent polls have forecast the SVP to emerge as the largest vote-winner.

The SVP is a party that thrives on contreversy like this, and it won't be surprising if they'll use this (continuing on their "Geheimplan gegen Blocher" (The SVP alleges that the leftwing and green parties have a secret plan to force the removal of Blocher from the Bundesrat)). The SVP is a party that has, other than similar contreversy, a strong advertising presence in the media (lots of ads in newspapers (especially the free ones, which are the most read) and billboards).

[Norseman]

They also make awesome games why can't other populist parties make fun flash based games?

[[R_H]]

Some more information and some analysis

Appeals launched in wake of pre-election riots

snip

However, experts say the People's Party is likely to benefit most from the incidents.

"The party says it is a victim. The leftwing militants did it a favour," said Georg Lutz, a political scientist at Bern University.

Latest opinion polls suggest the People's Party will take about 27 per cent of the vote in the forthcoming elections. It would thus remain the strongest group of the four governing parties.

The party has gained popularity in the past 15 years with its anti-European stance and its uncompromising policy on foreigners.

and then

from Pre-election rally marred by violence

snip

The mayor of Bern, Alexander Tschäppät, also condemned the violence. He said it was extremely frustrating to see that it is apparently not possible to stage peaceful demonstrations.

"Freedom of speech is a central pillar of our democracy. We will not allow any group of whatever political leaning to destroy democracy," said Tschäppät, who is a member of the centre-left Social Democratic Party.

The local authorities had come in for criticism for banning a protest by leftwing groups, but allowing the People's Party demonstration.

The first quote basically confirms my prediction in the OP. The SVP is the leader in the polls (~26% according to one of the local newspapers) and is expected to experience a slight gain. After the riot 42 people were taken into custody, according to the city police, the arrestee come from all over the country. Sadly 21 people were injured due to the clashes, 18 police and 3 rioters. One of the policemen was appearantly attacked by some kind of caustic or corrosive liquid (source 20 Minuten). According to the Dienstes für Analyse und Prävention (DAP) (Service for Analysis and Prevention) the rioters are part of the "Schwarzen Block" (literally translated the black block), they are

«Er ist eine unstrukturierte, unberechenbare Ansammlung verschiedener, zumeist autonom-anarchistischer Gruppierungen vor Ort», heisst es dazu im Extremismusbericht.

(The block is an unstructured, unpredictable group of mostly autonomous anarchists focused on starting and participating in violent demonstrations/riots)

Der Schwarze Block zählt nach DAP-Schätzungen (im Extremismusbericht 2004) rund 850 Aktivisten aus allen sozialen Schichten und aus der ganzen Schweiz, mit Schwergewicht aus den Grossräumen Zürich und Bern und anderen urbanen Regionen.

(According to the DAP estimates (from a 2004 report on extremism) the Black Block consists of ~850 activist from all social levels and from around the country, especially from urban regions and the Zuerich and Bern surroundings)

Wird dem Schwarzen Block ein Vierkreisemodell zugrunde gelegt, so setzt sich der innerste Kern, die Steuerung, aus rund fünfzig Exponenten der linksextremen Szene zusammen. Dem zweiten Kreis ordnet der DAP mindestens hundert Aktivisten zu, die verschiedenen Gruppierungen vorab autonom-anarchistischer Ausrichtung angehören.

Der dritte Kreis umfasst etwa 700 militante Aktivisten mit mutmasslich nur noch teilweiser politischer Motivation. Zum vierten Kreis zählt der DAP mehrere hundert Personen - primär spontane, ereignisorientierte, gewaltbereite und mehrheitlich apolitische Mitläufer, die an keinem Dialog mit der Gesellschaft interessiert sind.

(The Black Block consits of layers, where the inner most, the leadership is made up of around 50 leftwing extremists. The second layer is made up of approximately 100 activists that belong to various other autonomous anarchist groups. The third layer consists of approximately 700 militant activists with presumably some political motivation. The last layer consists of about 100 people that are primarily spontaneous, individualistic apolitical members ready for violence who are not interested in any dialogue with the rest of society.)

Der DAP stuft den Schwarzen Block als Störfaktor ein, der den friedlichen Verlauf von Anlässen und Kundgebungen immer wieder verhindert. «Er alleine vermag die innere Sicherheit der Schweiz aber nicht zu bedrohen.» Seine Verbindungen zum innersten Kern der linksextremistischen Gruppierungen gäben ihm jedoch ein gewisses Gefährdungspotenzial.

The DAP considers the Black Block as a disruptive element that inhibits/disturbs peaceful protests but the group is not able to threaten the interior security of Switzerland, however, it's links with the leftwing extremists are somewhat dangerous)

From Berner Chaos-Tag

[Glocksman]

The local authorities had come in for criticism for banning a protest by leftwing groups, but allowing the People's Party demonstration.

If the 'leftwing' groups in question were the same ones that disrupted the SVP rally, than I really can't say I blame them given their demonstrated propensity towards violence and rioting.
OTOH, if the leftwing groups that were banned from protesting lack the violent history of the anarchist groups and are generally peaceful, then the criticism is valid.

Either way, the attack may have made the 'protesters' feel good, but it makes them look like unstable whackjobs.

Just how 'right wing' is the SVP anyway?
From reading the BBC stories I get the impression that they're anti-immigrant, but what else do they advocate?

[salm]

While i know that throwing rocks at people is wrong in general it just feels so right if the rocks are directed at assholes like this party of nationalist fucktards.

[[R_H]]

Wikipedia (I know, terrible) gives somewhat of an overview of their positions (I'll find some other information from more credible sources and post them (with translation if necessary) tomorrow).

From Wikipedia
SVP

The SVP is the right-most of the four co-governing political parties in Switzerland. It is best known for opposing Swiss membership in international organizations such as the EU and UN, and for its campaigning for tougher immigration, asylum and penal laws. The party is socially and fiscally conservative, but secular in outlook. It is in favour of traditional family values, deregulation and reduced government spending (except for the areas of domestic security, the military and agricultural support). The SVP supports the Swiss traditions of private gun ownership, armed neutrality and the national militia army and opposes most forms of international security cooperation.

They're very much anti-EU and UN, that along with their position on immigration is what defines them here in the political spectrum. Their position on immigration is partially the result of the problems that occured with the asylum abuse in the '70s and '80s (not quite sure if that's the right time frame). I haven't really noticed them pimping out traditional family values, as quite a large percentage of the members/supporters aren't really into that.

The party is often considered divided into a centrist-agrarian wing and an activist-nationalist wing. The latter, based in Zurich, is clearly predominant on the national level and, under the leadership of the popular and controversial businessman Christoph Blocher, functioned as a de facto opposition party from circa 1980 to 2003. The former, to which Samuel Schmid belongs, is more of a traditional mainstream party rooted in the Cantons of Bern and Graubünden, where it holds many seats in communal executives. It stresses the party's responsibilities as a member of the governing coalition and is more oriented towards seeking a consensus with the other parties. It is also more open to Swiss membership in international organizations.

This was visible when Schmid declined to join the march in Berne, and actual urged against it. Right now, the activist-nationalist wing is more dominant in intra-party politics.

In May, 2007, the party along with the Federal Democratic Union of Switzerland launched an initiative to append to the Swiss Federal Constitution to ban the construction of minarets. The SVP claimed that they did not opposed Muslims but considered that construction of minarets went against state secularism .

Which caused quite a bit of contreversy, to say the least.[/quote]

[Pablo Sanchez]

Just how 'right wing' is the SVP anyway?
From reading the BBC stories I get the impression that they're anti-immigrant, but what else do they advocate?

They had an article in the NYT today; their most disturbing position is their support for a law that allows for the deportation of an entire family of immigrants, if a minor child of said family is found guilty of a crime. That steps really close to certain practices of the NSDAP.

[[R_H]]

They had an article in the NYT today; their most disturbing position is their support for a law that allows for the deportation of an entire family of immigrants, if a minor child of said family is found guilty of a crime. That steps really close to certain practices of the NSDAP.

I can understand deporting the individual who perpetrated the criminal act(s), but deporting the rest of the family smacks of collective punishment. They way they (the SVP) jusitify wanting to do this seems is because in their minds the parents are still ultimately responsible for the actions of their offspring, and deporting a minor would raise questions about who becomes responsible for their welfare once outside...might as well send the whole family along with them (that last bit was me being sarcastic).

The bits about Switzerland being racist (in the NYT and IHT) are going a bit too far. People here are more culturalist, they want immigrants to integrate and assimilate. People can only become a citizen if they demonstrate that they have integrated/assimilated sufficiently into Swiss society. However, there doesn't seem to be much government support for said integration/assimilation, especially seeing as the SVP is against such support for foreigners. There have been calls to grant the third generation of resident foreigners with passports, and make it easier for the second generation to become citizens but these motions were rejected when put before the electorate.

Foreign resident population by nationality



In thousands 2004 2005 2006
Total 1524.7 1541.9 1554.5
EU/EFTA countries 1) 879.2 897.6 917.6
Germany 146.0 158.7 173.9
France 68.9 70.9 73.5
Italy 301.7 297.9 293.3
Austria 32.7 33.1 33.2
Portugal 160.2 167.9 174.2
Spain 75.1 72.2 69.1
Other European countries 442.8 437.0 472.2
Serbia and Montenegro 199.7 196.8 191.5
Turkey 77.1 75.9 74.3
Africa 46.6 48.1 49.8
America 59.3 61.7 63.4
Asia 93.3 94.0 93.0
Australia, Oceania 3.3 3.2 3.3
Stateless, unknown nationality etc 0.2 0.3 0.3

"87% of Switzerland’s permanent resident population are of European origin, two-thirds of whom are nationals of an EU or EFTA member state. The largest group of foreigners are Italian (18.9%), followed by nationals of Serbia and Montenegro (12.3%), Portugal (11.2%) and Germany (11.2%). An increasing number of foreigners come from more distant countries. The proportion of non-European nationals has increased by 7 points since 1980 to reach 13.5% today."

[Skgoa]

So their sheep racism doesn't show what this party things about imigrands?
If there ever was a party the antifa had to fight, its this one.

[Skgoa]

fake edit: that should have been "thinks" I'm not fully awake yet.

[[R_H]]

What do you mean by fight? If it's like what was being done this weekend, then they're not acting in a manner appropriate to a democracy, and that is not how you combat the opposition as it just plays into their hands.

[Thanas]

The SVP even protests against German and austrian immigrants - the newest scare apparently is from "german doctors" taking medical jobs in Swiss Hospitals. (As if German/austrian and swiss culture was so different in the first place)

[[R_H]]

The SVP even protests against German and austrian immigrants - the newest scare apparently is from "german doctors" taking medical jobs in Swiss Hospitals. (As if German/austrian and swiss culture was so different in the first place)

That's just bizarre. You'd think they'd jump all over German and Austrian immigrants. Besides, isn't there a surplus of doctors in Switzerland already, I just saw on one of the German channels (MDR?) that they're having problems getting/retaining enough staff in German hospitals

[K. A. Pital]

You'd think they'd jump all over German and Austrian immigrants.

A true nazi always hates every other nation except his own one. That's easy.

[Thanas]

That's just bizarre. You'd think they'd jump all over German and Austrian immigrants. Besides, isn't there a surplus of doctors in Switzerland already, I just saw on one of the German channels (MDR?) that they're having problems getting/retaining enough staff in German hospitals

Well, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the pay is better and there isn't as much bureaucracy as in Germany.

The pay in German hospitals OTOH simply sucks. Couple that with heavy paperwork and long surplus hours, you get the idea.

[Colonel Olrik]

That's just bizarre. You'd think they'd jump all over German and Austrian immigrants. Besides, isn't there a surplus of doctors in Switzerland already, I just saw on one of the German channels (MDR?) that they're having problems getting/retaining enough staff in German hospitals

Well, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the pay is better and there isn't as much bureaucracy as in Germany.

The pay in German hospitals OTOH simply sucks. Couple that with heavy paperwork and long surplus hours, you get the idea.

The pay sucks relatively to the amount of work, the work day is from 8 to 8 on a good day, and even in a modern, major University Hospital the Doctors still have to deal with the bureaucracy using computers running Windows 95 that hurt the eyes (this one I had to see it to believe it).

Doctors in Germany who want to remain in practice mostly have one dream, and it involves practicing in other countries. Switzerland is conveniently close and German is an official language.

An increasing number of foreigners come from more distant countries

Emigration from Countries like Portugal or Spain has essentially stopped more than a decade ago, those countries have now to adapt to their own increasing foreign population coming from the same distant countries.

[Skelron]

So their sheep racism doesn't show what this party things about imigrands?
If there ever was a party the antifa had to fight, its this one.

No no you have it all wrong, their Sheep game shows that ultimatly they are doomed to fail, since you cannot win that game. You can merely delay things, in fact all their games show this, that they are going to lose on all the posisitions they hold. Since they are Tetris style games where you cannot win.

I think they need to re-examine their flash games a little.