Nearly 4,000 military personnel on standby to guarantee G7 security
Keystone-SDA
The cantons of Geneva, Vaud and Valais will have the support of nearly 4,000 Swiss military personnel to guarantee security at the G7 Summit being held in neighbouring France from June 12-17. The Swiss Army will be helping to provide security for the civil authorities in the border area around Evian.
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“The army’s main task will be to relieve the civilian security bodies of the French-speaking cantons during the event, so that the police can concentrate on their mission,” said the defence ministry on Thursday. This involves ensuring the protection of sensitive facilities, such as Geneva International Airport, and supporting border protection authorities.
The Air Force will also be reinforcing its armed air policing service. Airspace restrictions will be in place from June 10-18. Many of the high-level delegates to the summit are expected to land at Geneva Airport before making their way across Lake Geneva to Evian. The army will be involved in monitoring the lake and major roads.
It will also make available its capabilities in the cyber domain, defence against drones and NBC (nuclear, biological and chemical) protection.
The organisation of the G7 Summit hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron has raised a number of security-related questions in Switzerland, which is not part of the G7 group of rich countries. The request for reinforcements originally came from the cantons of Geneva, Vaud and Valais, which have found themselves on the front line of guaranteeing security for the Evian summit.
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As recently as last week, Swiss President Guy Parmelin had indicated it was still unclear if the French authorities would pick up part of the tab for the substantial security costs Switzerland is set to incur.
Cantonal police forces to ensure public order
The army, however, will not be involved in managing public order: this will be the responsibility of the cantons and their civilian security bodies, the defence ministry said.
In Geneva, all 1,500 police officers of the canton will be mobilised. In addition to their colleagues from cantons Vaud and Valais, other cantonal police forces have pledged reinforcements, including putting six-tonne German water cannons at their disposal.
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On Thursday, a coalition opposing the G7 condemned the “surreal” conditions set out in the partial authorisation given a week ago by the canton of Geneva for a demonstration to take place. “We’ve been asked not to make too much noise,” one of the coalition’s leaders told reporters. The No to G7 coalition has sent a letter to the cantonal authorities contesting the conditions set out in the permit.
‘No loud megaphones’ for anti-G7 protest
The coalition criticised requirements imposed by the canton “not to turn megaphones up too high” and to leave 3.5 metres on either side of the march. “I cannot guarantee these conditions,” said one of the coalition leaders, Françoise Nyffeler.
The Geneva government is allowing an anti-G7 march to go ahead on the right bank of the city of Geneva on June 14, but refused permission for a protest village to be set up in one of the city’s public parks, the Parc des Bastions.
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A majority of the roughly 60 organisations making up the coalition had decided to go ahead “reluctantly” with a demonstration on the right bank. But they still believe that a route around the harbour would be safer and easier to organise.
The coalition is set to meet with a member of the Geneva government on Thursday evening, although the government has insisted any march will be limited to the city’s right bank.
The coalition also fears a crackdown by the police. The last time Evian hosted the group, then the G8, in 2003, violent protests broke out in the city of Geneva. The main objective of the coalition, one of its members told reporters, is to show international solidarity in front of leaders that are putting the globe “in danger”.
Adapted from French with AI/additional input/gw
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