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BEGGING

Glance around Switzerland: Begging fines, cable car rescue and ID cards for illegal immigrants

Our round up of stories that you might have missed this week includes protests against begging fines, an emergency cable car rescue, continued construction strikes and more.

Glance around Switzerland: Begging fines, cable car rescue and ID cards for illegal immigrants
lostation/ / depositphotos

We have tried to give you a brief overview of each chosen story as well as a link so you can read more and follow up on it, if you want. 

Hundreds protest begging fines 

Photo: halfpoint / depositphotos

A crowd of around 250 people took to the streets of Lausanne this week to protest against a begging ban in canton Vaud, which came into effect on Thursday.

As a result of the Swiss People’s Party (SVP) 2016 initiative, people caught begging could now face a fine of up to 100 francs. Anybody found organising begging rings or making minors/dependants beg will be fined 500-2000 francs.

Ada Marra, of the Social Democratic Party, said it was regrettable that the “protection of the weakest was no longer guaranteed” and that the “poorest are now being criminalised”. 

More on this story can be found on the Blick website.

 

Rescued from cable car nightmare

Photo: kamizz / depositphotos

Eight people had to be rescued from a stranded cable car in the Rhine Valley by the Alpine Rescue Switzerland team (SAC) on Wednesday. Trapped passengers had to rappel from the cable car to get to safety during the two-hour ordeal.

The accident was the result of an empty cable car, further down the hill, becoming dislodged from its support cable and falling 12 metres to the ground. It is said to have caused more than ten thousand francs in damages.

Alarmingly, the cable car involved was only opened in April this year. At the time it was heralded as a world first due to it being self-operated. In the event of high winds, the system is supposed to automatically stop cable cars from being active. Reports suggest it was very windy when the incident happened. 

Authorities are currently investigating the cause and cable cars have been stopped until further notice. Pictures and more information can be found on Der Bund website.

 

Zurich wants ID card for all

Advocates show support for the ID card. The placard reads: “No person is illegal. Photo: Züri City Card Facebok Page

On Wednesday this week, Zurich city parliament voted in favour of introducing identity cards for all residents – including the estimated 14,000 ‘Sans Papiers’ or people living there illegally.

Advocates of the ‘Zuri City Card’ say all citizens of Zurich – regardless of residence status – should be allowed basic human rights and that the card would allow people to identify themselves to authorities, in particular the police.

They also say the card should grant holders access to public and private services without the fear of being arrested.

Zurich’s city council was itself against the motion, suggesting that giving illegal immigrants an identity card “could give undocumented migrants a false sense of security”.

More on this story can be found on SRF.

 

Construction strikes continue

Photo: jekershner7 / depositphotos

Following on from earlier strikes in Ticino and Geneva, another 1500 construction workers in the French speaking part of Switzerland put down their tools this week on Tuesday.

Strikers are a fairly rare occurrence in Switzerland but have been more regular this year (including 18,000 people striking last June in Zurich) due to ongoing issues over a new union agreement in the construction sector – particularly related to retirement age.

Read more: Why are strikes so rare in Switzerland?

This week, was the turn of workers from the cantons of Freiburg, Neuchâtel, Valais and Jura. The strike saw 80% of construction sites in Neuchâtel closed. More construction workers across Switzerland are expected to follow suit next week.

More on this story can be found on Le Journal du Jura website.

 

Capsule hotel opens in Lucerne

One of the pods on offer at Capsule Hotel Lucerne. Photo: Capsule Hotel Lucerne Facebook page

Earlier we showed you pictures of the brand new M-Budget hotel which has opened in St Gallen. But if that doesn’t sound like your thing, you might want try the Capsule Hotel in Lucerne.

As in similar hotels in Japan, guests sleep in small, futuristic bunker-like rooms to maximise space. From November 5, guests will be able to choose from the 19 pods on offer there.

The new hotel offers four different types of ‘rooms’ – including a larger premium pod and an option for women. 

Read more: In Pictures: First ever M-Budget hotel room unveiled

 

Arnie allies with Switzerland 

Arnold Schwarzenegger with the University of Zurich's Christian Schwarzenegger. Photo: University of Zurich

The University of Zurich has forged an unlikely alliance with action movie legend Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The Swiss university will work alongside the USC Schwarzenegger Institute and the non-profit organisation R20 – founded by Schwarzenegger – on the ‘Green Economy and Finance Initiative’.

“(We) will work together to accelerate the transition to sustainable clean energy and make the world safer and healthier for all its citizens,” said former Mr Olympia Schwarzenegger, in a statement on Monday.

More on this story can be read on the SwissInfo website.

 

PROTESTS

Tractors converge on Rome as farmers protest across Europe

A convoy of tractors was poised Saturday to descend on Rome as farmers' protests caused disruptions across Europe, though they wound down in France following government concessions.

Tractors converge on Rome as farmers protest across Europe

Farmers have expressed anger at what they say are excessively restrictive regulations on agriculture and unfair competition, among other grievances.

The movement erupted in France last month and there have also been protests in Germany, Belgium, Poland, Romania, Greece and the Netherlands.

Farmers have blocked motorways and disrupted traffic in key cities with convoys of tractors.

In Italy on Saturday, around 150 tractors massed in Orte, about an hour north of Rome.

READ ALSO: ‘Betrayed by Europe’: Italian farmers step up protests

Protesters there called for better pay and conditions and announced their imminent arrival in the Italian capital, an AFP reporter saw.

An Italian farmer stands on a tractor in the center of Milan during a protest on February 1, 2024. A placard (L) reads 'No agriculture, No food, no future'

An Italian farmer stands on a tractor in the centre of Milan during a protest on February 1, 2024. A placard (L) reads ‘No agriculture, No food, no future’. (Photo by GABRIEL BOUYS / AFP)

“Italian agriculture has woken up,” said protester Felice Antonio Monfeli.

“It’s historic and the people here are proving it. For the first time in their history, farmers are united under the same flag, that of Italy.”

The demonstrators have for days been calling for talks with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government, without having had a response so far.

“The situation is critical, we cannot be slaves in our own companies,” said another protester, Domenico Chiergi.

Germany, Switzerland, Spain, France

In Germany, hundreds of farmers on tractors disrupted access to Frankfurt airport, the country’s busiest, in opposition to a reform of diesel taxation, police said.

A Hesse farmers’ association estimated vehicle numbers at around 1,000, while police said 400 tractors took part before the protest ended in the early afternoon.

READ ALSO: German farmers block access to key shipping ports in new round of protests

A protest on the Dutch-Belgian border that had shut down a main motorway was wound down on Saturday evening, the Belga news agency reported.

A tractor decorated with German flags and a placard reading "Bureaucracy and laws without reason - First the Farmer Dies, then the Land" is seen during a protest of farmers and truck drivers, on January 15, 2024 in Berlin

A tractor decorated with German flags and a placard reading “Bureaucracy and laws without reason – First the Farmer Dies, then the Land” is seen during a protest of farmers and truck drivers, on January 15, 2024 in Berlin. (Photo by John MACDOUGALL / AFP)

Farmer discontent has also affected non-EU Switzerland, where around 30 tractors paraded in Geneva on Saturday in the country’s first such protest since the movement started elsewhere in Europe.

“As a young person, it scares us a lot not knowing if there is a future in our profession,” Antonin Ramu, a 19-year-old apprentice winegrower, told AFP.

He welcomed the transition to a more environmentally friendly agriculture but asked for more help in the face of competition from countries without the same standards.

In Spain, the three main farmers’ unions have announced more protests in the coming weeks, with a major demonstration planned for Barcelona on February 13.

A Spanish farmer drives a tractor along the road during a protest in demand of fair conditions for the agricultural sector, in Leon, northern Spain

A Spanish farmer drives a tractor along the road during a protest in demand of fair conditions for the agricultural sector, in Leon, northern Spain, on February 1, 2024. The sign reads ‘Farmers wake up – Fair prices now’. (Photo by CESAR MANSO / AFP)

In France, security forces cleared the few remaining blockades of motorways a day after the main agricultural union called for them to be lifted following government concessions.

READ ALSO: French farmers lift roadblocks as Europe protests persist

Their mobilisation had forced new Prime Minister Gabriel Attal’s government to pause a plan to reduce pesticide and insecticide use and offer an aid package of 400 million euros.

Romanian farmers and hauliers also announced the end of their road-block protest on Saturday following an agreement with the government.

Greek farmers consider escalation

In Greece, around 2,000 farmers protested in the country’s second-largest city of Thessaloniki on Saturday calling for increases in aid.

Their action came a day after Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced further support measures.

Some farmers from the mountain villages of Thessaly threw chestnuts and apples that had spoiled because of the natural disasters that hit the region.

“We have no food, we cannot put our lives in discount,” Kostas Tzelas, president of the Rural Associations of Karditsa, told AFP.

“We want to stay on our land and not become migrants.”

Farmers drive their tractors during a protest called by local branches of major farmer unions FNSEA and Jeunes Agriculteurs, blocking the A35 highway with tractors near Strasbourg, eastern France,

Farmers drive their tractors during a protest called by local branches of major farmer unions FNSEA and Jeunes Agriculteurs, blocking the A35 highway with tractors near Strasbourg, eastern France, on January 30, 2024, amid nationwide protests. (Photo by Frederick FLORIN / AFP)

Mitsotakis has already extended the refund of a special consumption tax on oil and a discount on rural electricity from May to September.

It is among a package of measures whose cost Mitsotakis put at more than one billion euros ($1.1 billion).

But Tzelas dismissed these measures as “peanuts”.

The president of a union of agricultural associations, Rizos Maroudas, told reporters a meeting was scheduled next week “to decide the escalation of blockades”.

The EU is scrambling to address concerns ahead of European Parliament elections this year.

The European Commission on Thursday promised measures to defend the “legitimate interests” of EU farmers, notably the much criticised administrative burdens of the bloc’s Common Agricultural Policy.

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