By Arwen Servat De La Huerga, Y12
May Day, which takes place on the 1st of May, is the day of the year where the Swiss population can express their opinions about work. May Day goes back centuries. This year, due to the coronavirus worsening the economy and consequently many people’s jobs, the protests grew significantly compared to the other years, ignoring the Covid-19 restrictions and risks.
Over 10,000 people protested in Basel on May Day
In Geneva, despite the government’s demand to have a limited amount of people protesting, up to 2 thousand people took to the streets. A thousand people blocked all public transport, questioning the reaction and action of the city’s government towards the work conditions.
In Zürich, dozens of police officers accompanied with vans and helicopters broke up an unauthorised May Day protest in the city centres. The police stated that no processions are authorised for any reason on Twitter, with a similar situation happening in Bern. Even more protestors in Basel filled the streets of the Northern-Western city. As for Lausanne, 500 people took part in the protest.
Every restrictive action from the police, whether it be breaking up protests or taking down some protesters, was justified by the non-respect of the protesters to the Swiss law, which limits the number of people to a hundred and makes masks-wearing mandatory. However, the same restrictive police actions towards May Day protests have happened every year – COVID or not.
So is May Day really the day of the year where the workers can freely express their opinions?
