Night of clashes between police and protesters in Bern

Switzerland, not only France and Italy, was hit by a demonstration that turned into clashes overnight between Saturday and Sunday. In Bern, around a thousand young people answered the call of the group Bern Vorwärts Links, which had organised the march under the slogan “Riconquistiamo la strada” (“Let's take back the streets”), according to the Berner Zeitung.

Participants gathered shortly after 11pm on the Schützenmatte, near the train station, before heading towards the Lorraine neighbourhood. The march, accompanied by loud music, aimed to reach the city centre via Viktoriaplatz and the Kornhaus bridge.

Police blocked the march on the Lorraine bridge. According to the authorities, some participants, partly masked, removed a barrier and advanced towards the officers, who responded with rubber bullets. Protesters threw pyrotechnic material at the police.

New clash outside the Reitschule

The march then returned to the Schützenmatte, in front of the alternative cultural centre Reitschule. Around 2am, a group threw objects at the officers, who again responded with rubber bullets.

The demonstration ended shortly after 3.40am. Traffic was blocked for around three hours. The cantonal police report no injuries and have opened an investigation.

The slogan chosen by the organisers, “Riconquistiamo la strada”, points to a recurring theme among youth movements linked to places like the Reitschule: the use of public urban space, seen by some as a place for sociability and by others as something requiring tighter control. The source does not specify the underlying demands of the march, nor whether the mobilisation is connected to the protests that took place the same day in France and Italy.

The question remains of what balance should be struck between the right to protest and the safety of those who live and work in the neighbourhoods crossed by the march, and how authorities intend to handle unauthorised marches of this scale in future without them escalating into confrontation.