Calls for Zurich police to get bodycams after hooligans attack officers

Authorities in Zurich have called for police to be equipped with bodycams after officers and medics treating an injured man were attacked by a mob of up to 300 people on Saturday night.

Published: 21 August 2018 19:55 CEST

Calls for Zurich police to get bodycams after hooligans attack officers

File photo: Depositphotos

“Shocking,” “incomprehensible” and “sad”: That is how Zurich security chief Karin Rykart described the attack near the Zurich Opera House by a group of some 200 to 300 masked individuals wearing FC Zürich football club fan gear.

The group threw stones and bottles at police and medics treating a man injured in a knife fight between two groups who were not associated with the football hooligan scene, said city police chief Daniel Blumer at a press conference on Monday.

The mob formed spontaneously when emergency services arrived on the scene, explained Blumer. He said the FCZ football fans had arrived back in the city from a game in Basel and had split up at the main train station before meeting up again near the opera house.

“Perhaps we underestimated the situation,” he said.

Two police officers received minor injuries in the attack, with Blumer saying it was “lucky” no police had been seriously injured.

Initially, only two police patrols were on site, but backup arrived with officers then using tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd.

Medics took refuge in their vehicles and had to wait five to seven minutes before they were able to leave the scene.

Blumer and Rykart have now both called for police to be equipped with bodycams to tackle rising violence.

In Zurich, in the first six months of 2017, there were 60 violent interludes involving police with five officers injured. In the same period this year, there were 88 such incidents with 11 officers injured.

Zurich police recently ran a two-year trial of bodycams to test their effectiveness.

Before the summer, Rykart had not publicly expressed on opinion on whether their use should be continued, but on Monday she had changed her mind.

In an interview with state broadcaster SRF on Tuesday, the man behind the Zurich bodycam trial, Dirk Baier said study results did not show bodycams could prevent or reduce incidents like that seen on Saturday night in Zurich.

But he did say many police were in favour of bodycams because they allowed for the gathering of evidence.

It is a sentiment echoed by Blumer on Monday. During the press conference on the weekend’s events, he said: “If police had been wearing bodycams on Saturday, we would have had great pictures.”

Zurich City Hall and the cantonal parliament must now approve a move to allow the city’s force to become the first in Switzerland to wear bodycams. Other cantons are studying their use.

A Swiss appeals court confirmed Monday the acquittal of six police officers over the death of a Nigerian man, in a case that drew comparisons to George Floyd’s killing in the United States.

As with the lower court verdict a year ago acquitting the officers of negligent homicide in the case of Mike Ben Peter, Monday’s ruling sparked immediate protests and chants of “Shame!” outside the courthouse.

Around 80 people crowded outside the court, shouting: “Black lives matter!”, “Justice for Mike”, and “Police kill, the judiciary acquits!”

The 39-year-old Nigerian died following a violent arrest after he refused a police drug search in Lausanne in western Switzerland in early 2018.

In the encounter with the six police officers, he was pinned to the ground on his stomach. He died in hospital a few hours later after suffering a heart attack.

His death initially received little attention, but the global outcry over Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police in May 2020 placed a bigger spotlight on the Swiss case.

During the first trial in June last year, a court in Lausanne ruled that the six officers involved in the incident could not be found guilty of negligent homicide.

The public prosecutor’s office also decided to drop the charges, referring in particular to forensic analyses that were unable to state with certainty that Ben Peter died due to the police intervention.

After three days of hearings last week at the appeals court in Renens, near Lausanne, the three judges confirmed the lower court ruling, acquitting the officers of negligent homicide.

They also acquitted them on an additional charge of abusing their authority, brought by the lawyer of Ben Peter’s family, Simon Ntah.

As with during the first trial, the judges relied heavily on forensic expert testimony to reach their conclusion.

The experts testified that it was impossible to say for certain that Ben Peter died due to the police intervention.