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Geneva protests turn violent
Thousands of protesters gathered in Geneva on Sunday ahead of the Group of Seven summit set to bring together United States President Donald Trump and other world leaders in nearby France, with the demonstration led by the “No-G7” coalition.
“The demonstration against the G7 was dispersed by police on Sunday in Geneva, due to vandals at the end of the march”
Riot police fired tear gas and water cannons in clashes with stone-throwing youths during the protest, and the standoff extended into the evening after incidents including a car set ablaze and a bank’s windows smashed along the route of an afternoon march.
French and Swiss authorities deployed thousands of police to provide security for the three-day summit starting Monday in the French resort town of Evian-les-Bains, while authorities blocked off roads and banned unauthorised gatherings in Geneva.
Police estimates put turnout at about 20,000 people for the demonstration, including some 600 so-called “Black Bloc” militants, as protesters threw bottles, stones, pieces of cement and firecrackers at officers.
In the evening, buildings targeted during the day included offices of the UN’s International Telecommunications Union and a nearby premises of multinational firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, according to reporting from the protest in Geneva on Sunday.
Voices and competing frames
No-G7 coalition spokesperson Francoise Nyffeler said, “We are very afraid of the policy and the politics of Mr. Trump and also of the other leaders of the G7, because they are fighting, making war all over the place,” describing the protest as a response to G7 policies.
Al Jazeera’s Natacha Butler said demonstrators denounced the G7 as being “all about the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer,” and linked their message to climate, equal rights and poverty.
AP described the demonstration as otherwise peaceful, saying environmentalists, women’s rights advocates, supporters of Palestinians and foes of imperialism, fascism and capitalism joined the march.
France 24 reported that Swiss police fired tear gas at demonstrators after some protesters started targeting buildings linked to the United Nations in Geneva, with stones thrown at a UN telecommunication building and flares used as police tried to move them away.
A BBC protester framed the violence as a message about “all these countries that oppress us through money and power,” while the BBC said tear gas and a water cannon were deployed after protesters smashed windows and set a car on fire.
Security, restrictions, and fallout
Ahead of the summit, Swiss and French authorities deployed thousands of police and gendarmes, with France announcing the deployment of more than 13,000 police and gendarmerie officers to ensure security in the summit area just across the border.
“Thousands of protesters have gathered in Geneva ahead of this week’s Group of Seven (G7) summit, which is set to bring together United States President Donald Trump and other world leaders in nearby France”
Geneva police and authorities also imposed restrictions including blocking off roads, banning unauthorised gatherings, and limiting access at the border, with only seven of the 35 roadway border crossings remaining open.
France 24 said police confiscated knives and pyrotechnic devices, while the BBC said the G7 summit starts on 15 June in Évian-les-Bains and will bring together leaders of Britain, France, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States and the European Union.
The protest’s immediate consequences included boarded-up storefronts in downtown Geneva with wooden panels as a precaution, and a day earlier a flotilla of around 20 boats appeared on Lake Geneva off the coast of Evian displaying anti-G7 and pro-Palestinian banners.
The stakes for the summit agenda were framed by the sources as wars in Ukraine and Iran and issues including global inequality, with the BBC saying the summit starts on 15 June and Al Jazeera noting the event comes as frustration with Trump’s leadership spans tariffs, the US-Israeli war on Iran, and the climate crisis.
