Protests against World Economic Forum turn violent, Zurich police shoot tear gas

On Wednesday, January 22, protests erupted against the World Economic Forum in Zurich asking for stronger action to tackle Climate Crisis. With banners that read, “Zurich against WEF” demonstrators in Zurich lit fireworks and threw bottles to express their rage against the forum that is being held in Davos.

The Swiss police had to use water cannons, rubber bullets and tear gas to curb the protests during which three people were arrested, and one passerby was injured. A policeman was also hospitalized during the protests as per details by the Zurich police. 

'Zurich against WEF'

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The permitted demonstration saw several hundred people march in the streets near Zurich downtown with banners and slogans such as “Stop the Climate Crisis.” The demonstration went on till evening. While the call for protests was 'peaceful' and 'non-violent', Swiss police reported that demonstrators began igniting boxes in the middle of the street. They also allegedly smeared windows of surrounding shops with slogans such as “Smash WEF.” 

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As per reports of the Zurich police, the protests caused property damage in the “thousands of Swiss francs”. “Even after the end of the official event at around 20:30, several groups of violent people remained at the scene to keep officers busy,” police stated.  

The 50th annual World Economic Forum is being held in Davos in Switzerland. Around 3,000 people from around the world have come together to use this forum to discuss this year's theme which is called "Stakeholders for a Cohesive and Sustainable World". The theme is mainly centred around the rising effects of Climate Crisis across the globe.

It has also seen an address from noted climate activist Greta Thunberg who in her statement had said that the richer countries need to get down to zero emissions much faster. She also added that the leaders are not doing anything to deal with the climate emergency. 

(With Agency Inputs) 

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