Security in Zurich
Despite the criticisms, the police keep their rubber bullets
A report commissioned by the municipality concludes that this means remains necessary to manage overflows. But the balls will be deducted.
In Zurich, the use of rubber bullets to keep the violent groups at a distance gives rise to controversies.
Tamedia
- Zurich municipal police maintain the use of rubber bullets, for lack of sufficient workforce.
- A new shooting system will be established in September.
- Current launchers, fifty years old, will be replaced by modern equipment.
- A national petition brought together 6,400 signatures after a demonstrator has become blind.
Despite controversies and cases of serious injuries, Zurich refuses to abandon the rubber bullets in his management of demonstrations and overflows. A report commissioned by the city concludes that it is necessary to maintain this device, while improving its supervision and transparency, reports the RTS.
“We simply do not have the human resources necessary to do without it,” argues Beat oppligative, commander of the Zurich municipal police, in the “Tages-Anzeiger”. According to him, renouncing these projectiles would involve mobilizing more agents and would increase the risks of injury, both for the police and for the demonstrators. The report quotes the German example, where the absence of rubber bullets and the exclusive use of batons and spray with pepper would lead to a heavier balance in terms of wounded.
Rubber bullets deducted
In response to criticism, the city of Zurich will introduce from 1is September a systematic count of each use of rubber bullets. This measure, claimed by the municipal legislative, aims to better supervise the practice, which has been used 93 times in the last decade. The municipality is also committed to renewing its equipment, the current launchers dating back to fifty years.
For Amnesty International, which regularly denounces the use of these projectiles, simple accounting is not enough to prevent abuse. The organization nevertheless welcomes the effort of transparency of the city of Zurich. For his part, Karin Rykart, responsible for security, calls to extend this practice at the national level.
The controversy around the rubber bullets intensified in May 2023, when a Zurich demonstrator lost sight of one of these projectiles. This incident motivated a petition signed by 6,400 people requesting the ban on these systems throughout the country. An unofficial census established by a Zurich ophthalmologist reports 29 eye lesions in Switzerland since the 1980s, which highlights the risks associated with this method of maintaining order.
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