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SECURITY

Swiss brace for protests over Trump’s Davos visit

The Swiss authorities on Thursday warned about unauthorized and potentially violent protests targeting this year's World Economic Forum meet in Davos and its star attraction, US President Donald Trump.

Published: 12 January 2018 07:36 CET
Swiss brace for protests over Trump's Davos visit
The WEF frequently attracts protests, such as here in Geneva in 2009. Photo: Nicholas Ratzenboeck/AFP

The annual meeting of the world's political and business elite at theluxury Swiss ski resort often draws small protests against its famous participants and the global trade agenda.

But with the surprise announcement this week that Trump is attending this year's January 22nd-26th meet, Swiss authorities expect demonstrations across the country.

“In connection with the upcoming WEF in Davos and the announced visit of US President Donald Trump, an unauthorized demonstration was called” on January 13th, Bern said, warning that “a high potential for violence must be assumed”.

A group called RJG has called a demonstration in the Swiss capital starting at 3pm on Saturday, but authorities said they expected protests could begin on Friday evening.

Authorities expect “several hundred demonstrators” to turn up, the statement said, adding that “damage to federal buildings must be expected”.

“It cannot be ruled out that demonstrations will be called again for the following weekend,” it said.

'Welcome to Hell'

It remains unclear when Trump will be at Davos, but RJG has called a demonstration on January 23rd titled: “Trump: Welcome to Hell” in Zurich, a 2.5-hour drive or train ride from Davos and the closest airport.

Another group, Campax, which has gathered more than 8,100 signatures since Wednesday on a petition aimed at keeping Trump away from Davos, has also vowed to organize a demonstration near the Zurich airport around the time of his arrival.

A previously planned rally in Geneva on January 21st to mark the anniversary of the massive Women's March in Washington and around the world after Trump was sworn in is also now expected to draw a far bigger crowd, Le Temps daily reported.

Trump, whose “America First” agenda stands in stark contrast with the globalization and regulatory integration popular among the Davos crowd, will be the first sitting US president to attend the meeting since Bill Clinton in 2000.

Ensuring security during WEF requires a massive police and military presence but Swiss authorities did not appear too rattled.

The head of the regional Graubünden police force Walter Schlegel told Swiss news agency ATS that Trump's attendance would not require “major shifts” in the security detail in the resort town of around 11,000 inhabitants.

The airspace over the region will remain closed for the duration of the forum, and like every year, the military will pitch in by sending up to 5,000 troops to Davos.

SECURITY

Swedish Huawei ban is legal, court rules

A Swedish ban on Chinese telecoms company Huawei was confirmed in court on Tuesday, citing the country's security as a just reason for banning its equipment in a 5G rollout.

Published: 23 June 2021 07:14 CEST
Swedish Huawei ban is legal, court rules
Photo: AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein

The administrative court in Stockholm ruled that the decision of the Swedish telecoms authority, PTS, to ban the use of equipment from Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE in a new Swedish 5G telecom network last October — a move that irked Beijing — was legal.

Equipment already installed must also be removed by January 1st, 2025.

“Sweden’s security is an important reason and the administrative court has considered that it’s only the security police and the military that together have a full picture when it comes to the security situation and threats against Sweden,” judge Ulrika Melin said in a statement.

Huawei denounced the ruling, but did not say whether it would appeal.

“We are of course noting that there has been no evidence of any wrongdoings by Huawei which is being used as basis for this verdict, it is purely based on assumption,” Kenneth Fredriksen, the company’s vice-president for Central, Eastern Europe and the Nordic region, told AFP.

Huawei will now evaluate the decision and the “see what kind of actions we will take to protect our rights,” Fredriksen added.

After the UK in the summer of 2020, Sweden became the second country in Europe and the first in the EU to explicitly ban Huawei from almost all of the network infrastructure needed to run its 5G network.

Beijing had warned that PTS’ decision could have “consequences” for the Scandinavian country’s companies in China, prompting Swedish telecom giant and Huawei competitor Ericsson to worry about retaliation.

“We will continue to be available to have constructive dialogues with Swedish authorities to see if we can find pragmatic ways of taking care of security and at the same time keeping an open and fair market like Sweden has always been,” Fredriksen said.

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