Swiss police clear months-long quarry protest

Swiss police on Tuesday swooped down on environmental protesters who have been occupying a quarry owned by Franco-Swiss cement giant LafargeHolcim for months to protest against its plans to expand the site.

Published: 30 March 2021 21:41 CEST

Swiss police clear months-long quarry protest

Photo: Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP

A large contingent of police, many in riot gear, descended on the Mormont site in La Sarraz in the western canton of Vaud early Tuesday, asking the some 200 activists to leave or be removed by force.

The activists set up camp at the site in October, warning of the environmental and ecological consequences of Lafarge-Holcim’s plans to expand the quarry.

The company and the La Sarraz municipality had filed legal petitions to remove the activists, and the police operation came after the protesters’ legal appeals were rejected.

The move to clear the outer limits of the camp went off peacefully, but as the officers went towards a farmhouse at the centre, some protesters threw rocks and threw fireworks, an AFP photographer said.

“It is a high-anxiety situation. But we want to stick it out as long as possible,” one of the demonstrators told the ATS-Keystone news agency shortly before being evacuated by police.

The regional police said one police officer had been slightly wounded but none of the activists were injured.

By evening, police had detained 29 people, 12 of whom were taken into custody in nearby Lausanne.

A number of the activists remained up in trees or on the farmhouse roof, singing and shouting slogans against LafargeHolcim.

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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.