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Mainstream press sources say about 3000 to 4000 people turned
out today (29. July 2006) in the Swiss capital Berne to protest
against the war in Lebanon. The demonstrators assembled at
14:00 local time near the main railway station, then staged a
protest march through the old town which ended on the
Bundesplatz square in front of the parliament building.
There, speeches including speeches by Soha Bechara, an ex
freedom-fighter who was incarcerated in Israel for ten years,
Joe Lang, a green MP, and Mohamed al Husseini from the
local lebanese cultural association where given.
The organisers, a wide range of organisations, including the
Group for a Switzerland Without Army, the Green Party,
several palestinian, arab and muslim groups as well as
christian religious and socialist groups had called for a
peaceful demonstration and urged the participants to not
allow any antisemitic, rassist, religious or anti-religious
banners or actions.
With very few exceptions, this call was heeded. The protest
was very colourful and fairly chaotic but completely peaceful.
Very few police were in place and they generally remained in
the background. The protesters were very diverse and
represented all walks of life. No incidents with far right
provocateurs, radical islamists or counter-protesters were
observed, the protesters battled with the scorching summer
heat though – temperatures were over 30°C and the humidity
was fairly elevated.
Banners from the protesters and the speechers denounced the
disproportionate violence excerted by the Israeli army, both in
Lebanon and in Gaza - in particular the criminal slaughtering of
innocent civilians, and the systematic destruction of civilian
infrastructures. They called for an immeadiate cease-fire, the
pullback of Israel from all occupied territories the release of
tousands of palestinian prisoners and called for a fair peace
between Israel and its arab neighbours.
The protestors also staunchly critizised the hypocritical position
of the Swiss government which hesitates to call the conflict a
war and which continues to treat weapons with the Israeli state.
They support the position of the social-democratic Swiss foreign
minister Micheline Calmy-Rey which had critized Israel for its
policies.
Also critizied were the United States which were blamed for their
ever more dangerous and imperialistic policies. Some of the
chanted slogans were indeed the same as the ones that were
chanted in the run-up to the Iraq war: “a ceux qui veulent dominer le monde, le monde repond: résistance” ( to those who want to dominate the world, the world responds: resistance!). |
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