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American arrested over stabbing attacks in Zurich

Swiss police are looking for people who witnessed the stabbings, which took place at two different locations in Zurich on Wednesday morning.

Published: 5 January 2023 11:03 CET
American arrested over stabbing attacks in Zurich
Zurich police are looking for witnesses of the stabbings. Photo by MICHELE LIMINA / AFP

A 38-year-old American citizen reportedly stabbed two people in districts 5 and 1 one hour apart on Wednesday morning, fleeing after each attack, Zurich police said in a press release.

The first victim, whose injuries were severe enough to require emergency surgery, was stabbed at around 9.45 am on Hardturmstrasse, in the area of the VBZ tram stop Fischerweg.

The second attack occurred on Schweizergasse, near the Pestalozzi facility.

The police didn’t specify what the suspect used to attack his victims, just saying it was a “stabbing weapon.”

Based on witness descriptions, the suspect, whose identity beyond his nationality and age has not been released, was apprehended soon after the second attack and is now under investigation for “serious violent crime.”

It is also not known at this point whether the alleged attacker is a tourist or resident, whether he knew his victims, or what his motives were.

The police are asking anyone who witnessed either of the attacks to call them at (058) 648-4848.

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ZURICH

Growth spurt: What Zurich needs to do to accommodate 2 million residents

Switzerland's biggest city Zurich is becoming more densely populated. With the population expected to pass the 2 million mark in the coming years authorities are devising plans to make it liveable for new residents.

Published: 29 April 2024 15:08 CEST
Growth spurt: What Zurich needs to do to accommodate 2 million residents

At the end of 2023, over 1.6 million people lived in Zurich, Switzerland’s most populous canton.

But this number is far from static.

The population is continuing to grow — so much so, that it will reach the 2-million mark in the coming years, cantonal authorities said in a press release.

This means an increase of around 450,000 people within the next two decades — a 28-percent growth rate, which is “significantly higher than the Swiss average.”

The primary reason for this hike, accounting for 49 percent of the increase, is immigration, followed by births (44 percent) and, to a lesser degree (7 percent), people moving to Zurich from other Swiss regions

On one hand, this is good news because “it is evidence of the canton’s attractiveness and economic prosperity,” authorities pointed out.

On the other, however, this demographic evolution will create a number of new problems and exacerbate the already existing ones.

That is why “strategic decisions are needed on how to handle challenges facing various areas,”  cantonal officials said.

‘Dealing with consequences’

With this ‘growth spurt,’ Zurich will experience many of the same challenges as Switzerland on the whole will, as demographers are expecting the country’s population to swell to 10 million (from the current 9 million) people in the coming years. 

Just as the federal government has started to think about the best ways to prepare the country’s infrastructure for the growing numbers, Zurich’s authorities too will be “shaping this growth” and “dealing with its consequences.”

To achieve this goal, they have launched the ‘Growth 2050” project to begin in the summer, which will  examine “which approach is most suitable for strategically addressing the challenges ahead,” according to the press release.

What exactly does this mean?

While the project’s findings will not be made public until 2027, authorities will have to ensure that Zurich’s infrastructure, such as housing, public transport, as well as school and healthcare systems, will not crumble under pressure, but be able to function optimally — from both the financial and practical perspectives — in the new context.

While all these areas are important, in Zurich’s case, housing appears to be a particular problem as more residents move into the canton.

With  tens of thousands of foreign nationals having settled in Zurich in the past few years, for instance, affordable housing had become scarcer — a situation that has continued to deteriorate and is expected to grow worse as more residents continue to arrive in the future.

READ ALSO: Zurich hit by affordable housing shortage amid record-high immigration

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