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Former Swiss MP calls asylum seekers ‘scum’

Zurich prosecutors are set to investigate former Swiss People’s Party parliamentarian Ulrich Schlüer over claims he breached anti-racism laws in a searing article in which he likened Palestinian asylum seekers to animals.

Published: 14 August 2012 16:25 CEST

Former Swiss MP calls asylum seekers 'scum'

Photo: Swiss Federal Parliamentary Services

A Swiss citizen of Palestinian origin reported the 67-year-old politician to the authorities after reading the article he wrote for the Blaulicht newsletter, newspaper Tages-Anzeiger reports.

In his article Schlüer, who lost his seat in the national parliament last autumn, described witnessing a fight in Flaach, where he lives. As he looked on, he said, a group of Palestinian asylum seekers attacked each other “like animals”.

The community, he said, had been told the asylum seekers coming to Flaach were refugees in danger of losing their lives if not granted protection in Switzerland.

“In fact, what arrived was scum,” he wrote, adding that Palestinians in general should not be granted asylum in Switzerland and should instead be sent home.

Chief prosecutor Hans Maure confirmed that the Zurich prosecutor’s office had received a complaint about the article.

David Gibor, the lawyer representing the complainant, said he hoped the criminal proceedings against Schlüer would be as “vigorous and passionate” as the politician’s opinions.

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Swiss parliament wants ban on extremist symbols

The National Council lower house of parliament voted by 133 to 38 in favour of banning the public use of racist, violence-promoting and extremist symbols, such as Nazi symbols.

Switzerland, which stayed neutral during World War II, has come under pressure to fall in line with a number of other European countries in banning Nazi symbols.

Full bans are in place in Germany, Poland and several other eastern European nations.

The Swiss parliament as a whole is now in favour, after the Council of States upper house voted for such a ban in December.

The plans would also cover gestures, words, salutes or flags.

The National Council also voted by 132 to 40 for the measures to be introduced in stages — a move the government supports.

A ban on easily identifiable Nazi symbols could be implemented quickly, while other racist and extremist symbols could be identified and banned further down the line.

“We don’t want a swastika or a Hitler salute in our country, ever!” said Green lawmaker Raphael Mahaim.

“Today, in Switzerland, it is possible, it is even permitted, to display a flag with a swastika on your balcony. It is possible to put a flag bearing the image of the SS on the windshield of your car. It is possible to give the Hitler salute in public spaces.

“This situation is intolerable.”

Debate on other symbols

Justice minister Beat Jans said the government, called the Federal Council, had hitherto relied on prevention as the main pillar against racism, but now thinks legal measures are needed.

“Anti-Semitic incidents, particularly those involving the use of Nazi symbols, have increased sharply in recent times,” he said.

“Against this background, the Federal Council decided last week that it is positive about the gradual implementation of the motion.”

He said the government wanted to introduce a special law which would mean fines could therefore be imposed.

As for banning Nazi symbols first, Mahaim accepted that debates on other symbols “will be much more difficult”.

“For example, what about the Z symbol of Putin’s army of aggression? What about the Ku Klux Klan symbol? What about the hammer and sickle symbol?” he said.

The no votes and abstentions all came from the hard-right Swiss People’s Party (SVP), which is the largest faction in the lower chamber.

SVP lawmaker Barbara Steinemann said Switzerland had successfully been able to keep extremism down to “a base of a few meaningless weirdos”.

She said a ban on symbols would not prevent the “rampant” anti-Semitic attitudes in universities and “intellectual milieus”.

Steinemann said Nazi symbolism had risen only since the Gaza war erupted in October, and “even if you don’t like to hear it, this is the influence of immigration from non-European cultures.

“We are literally engaging in symbolic politics, and we shouldn’t be doing that,” the Zurich lawmaker said.

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