Lausanne authorities sought on Tuesday to head off a third night of violence in the Swiss city following the death of a teenager fleeing police on a scooter.
The unrest comes with the Olympic capital’s police in the spotlight after four officers were suspended Monday following the unearthing of racist, sexist and discriminatory messages in private WhatsApp groups.
A police officer in riot gear walks past a fire in a street in Lausanne, on August 25, 2025, during a second night of rioting. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)
A 17-year-old Swiss resident of Lausanne fleeing police on a scooter reported stolen on Saturday, hit a wall and died early Sunday, despite resuscitation attempts by emergency services.
It was the third death in less than three months in Lausanne during a police intervention. There have been seven such deaths in the city and the wider Vaud region since 2016. Five involved men of African origin.
On Sunday night, “around 100 young people, wearing balaclavas” set fire to several containers and damaged a bus, police said.
The following night, 150-200 people set up roadblocks using trash containers, setting them on fire, police said.
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Police used 54 tear gas grenades and made seven arrests.
Fireworks explode near a police officer in riot gear in Lausanne, on August 25, 2025. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)
“Pyrotechnic devices were used against the police; it’s scandalous,” Lausanne city’s security councillor Pierre-Antoine Hildbrand told the Keystone-ATS news agency.
“We are facing a movement that has nothing to do with the death of this youth, but which is using it as an excuse to attack law enforcement. It’s disgraceful.”
A young person walks past fires in a street, in Lausanne, on August 25, 2025, during a second night of rioting. Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)
Police have acknowledged that a car was following the teenager who died early Sunday. But the Vaud public prosecutors’ office issued a statement “with the aim of clarifying and calming the situation”.
It said two motorists approached the teenager before police arrived at the crash site. This tended to confirm there was a “significant distance” between the scooter and the pursuing police vehicle and “no contact” between them, the statement added.
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‘Systematic discrimination’
Separately, messages from two WhatsApp groups containing existing or former Lausanne police officers came to light via public prosecutors. These contained racist, sexist and discriminatory material.
“There is a systemic discrimination problem that needs to be addressed,” said Lausanne Mayor Gregoire Junod, according to national broadcaster RTS.
A “cultural change” is needed to prevent such abuses from happening again, he said.
The city revealed the messages at a press conference.
“The municipality is deeply shocked and scandalised by these messages, which harm the credibility of the police as a whole and the necessary relationship of trust between the population and the police,” the city said in a statement.
Four police officers involved in the groups have been suspended, with further suspensions expected to follow.
