Police charged hundreds of demonstrators who converged on the centre of Geneva Saturday to protest against the World Economic Forum in defiance of a ban imposed by local authorities. Police used tear gas after being pelted with bottles and fireworks as the demonstrators tried to stage a march through the city centre. Organisers had appealed for calm, while attacking the ban on the protest.
After tentatively allowing the rally to go ahead, the regional government said earlier this month the organisers of the demonstration had been unable to provide sufficient security guarantees to stage the event in the western Swiss city. Police equipped with a water cannon had blocked the planned route of the march, while participants were systematically checked and their bags searched.
Anti-globalisation groups frequently protest against the annual meeting of the select group of the world's business and political elite in the eastern mountain resort of Davos, although demonstrations have subsided in recent years. Laurent Moutinot, the Geneva canton's minister in charge of home affairs and policing, said last week, "We're not facing a popular movement, but a group of people who deliberately aim to come here for a bust-up."
Banners being carried Saturday called for freedom of expression and attacked the "capitalist swindle", claiming that "the blackmailers of the WEF are mortgaging our future." Some demonstrators disguised as clowns attempted to provoke the police by ridiculing them. Earlier this month a Swiss group of "anarchist and communist political forces" put out posters depicting fiery images of masked protestors, calling for people to join the "revolutionary block" or to "smash WEF."