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RACIAL PROFILING

Swiss man fined 2,000 francs for filming racist video

A resident of the Swiss canton of Bern has been handed a conditional fine of 2,000 Swiss francs (€1,820) over a video in which he filmed himself racially abusing a Kenyan man.

Swiss man fined 2,000 francs for filming racist video
File photo: Depositphotos

The incident took place at a car wash in Zollbrück, Bern back in February when the Swiss man filmed himself watching the African who was washing his jeep.

“Look at the fucking nigger ('Scheiss-Neger'). He’s even singing a bit, the idiot,” the man can be heard saying in the video.

The man then asks if the African actually paid for his jeep of if he did it “like in Africa”.

“This is Africa, hey. This dude has got it really good,” the man says next.

READ ALSO: Racism – Young people in Switzerland feel increasingly discriminated against

Police in Bern launched an investigation after the man's video footage of the incident was posted on social media.

The Bern man has now been handed a conditional fine of 2,000 francs for numerous racial insults and for invasion of privacy through use of a recording device, according to court documents seen by Swiss news site 20 Minuten.

Under Swiss law, because the 2,000-franc fine is conditional, it will only be payable if the man offends again within four years. However, he must immediately pay 1,000 francs in costs and other fines.

The man behind the video had previously told Swiss media he did not regret his actions and that he had not posted the video on social media. However, investigators established he had forwarded the video to at least seven other people.

“I am extremely shocked and sad,” the 24-year-old victim of the incident said previously.

The Kenyan also said he tried to remain calm not to escalate the situation. “I just wanted to wash my car,” he said.

“I had never seen the person before. He obviously needed to vent his racial hatred,” said the man.

Many commenters on the 20 Minuten website expressed their outrage both at the fact that the fine was so small, and that is was conditional.

Member comments

  1. Why only a conditional fine? Anti-racism laws in CH are a joke. I’m an educated African-American and former banker. I was walking my dog in the forest near Greng/Murten. My dog ,who is very friendly, walked over to greet another dog. The other dog was owned by a Bernese couple. The man physically attacked my dog for sniffing his dog! When I called him an idiot, he punched me in the face and the wife told me to go back to Africa. My teenaged daughter was with me. She called my Swiss husband who called the police. All arrived on the scene. I was shaken and nervous but described the situation to the police and my daughter confirmed the events as a witness. The police told me not to file charges as i could not prove that he hit me and that i did not accidentally fall into some bushes. I’m not joking…. My Swiss husband said and did nothing to defend me and my daughter. That’s when i realized how deep racism and sexism runs in CH….. and i decided that my worst fears about my Swiss husband were true– he harbors racist and sexist sympathies while telling the world he is not a racist or sexist. It seems to me that in the eyes of the men, I must have been wrong because I got angry. That’s when i lost respect for my husband and made a plan to leave.

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RACISM

Swiss parliament wants ban on extremist symbols

Swiss lawmakers on Wednesday voted in favour of banning the display of extremist and racist symbols, starting with those of a Nazi nature.

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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