Hundreds demonstrate against police violence in Lausanne
Keystone-SDA
Several hundred people demonstrated peacefully in Lausanne on Saturday against police violence. The demonstration was organised by the anti-racist coalition of French-speaking Switzerland.
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The demonstrators gathered on the Place du Château at 2pm, a photographer from the Swiss News Agency Keystone-SDA observed. The police estimated the number of participants at 500 and the rally passed places associated with police violence.
Among other things, it stopped in front of the police station where a Nigerian man died after being arrested at the end of May. The public prosecutor’s office subsequently opened proceedings against four police officers on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter. The target of the rally was the Prélaz neighbourhood. A 17-year-old scooter rider was killed in an accident there in August while fleeing from the police.
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Among other things, the demonstrators chanted “No justice, no peace”. According to the police, the demonstration was peaceful. However, the atmosphere was briefly tense when the route passed the “Le Vaudois” restaurant. An Eritrean was killed in an altercation there in August.
The police forces in canton Vaud have been criticised for years for incidents of possible police violence. In the last ten years, at least seven people have died in police operations in the canton. This has triggered several rallies and riots denouncing police violence and racism.
Adapted from German by AI/ts
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