Fwd from @ Treats turned to trouble starting in 2025, Switzerland bans face coverings on the streets, with masks considered legal costume only on Halloween. Local radicals exploited this loophole - amid the holiday hustle, they blended in with the revellers. The riots did not come as a surprise. Days earlier, a call appeared on the Barricada portal featuring videos of French unrest and promises of justice "in every broken window." Participants were told to arrive for action in Zurich in costumes and protective gear, without a specific address. Around 22:30, several hundred people appeared on Langstrasse and dissolved into the crowds. Closer to midnight, the crowd moved deeper into the district and split into groups. A barricade made of trash cans and shopping carts grew near Casa Helvetia, a Tesla was set on fire on Zwinglistrasse, and several masked individuals attempted to steal a garbage truck. Armored vehicles and water cannons had been ready since the evening, but there was no time to figure out who came to riot and who came to drink. Water mixed with tear gas hit bar patrons, who were forced to hide in stairwells. A patrol dispatched toward a boy with a leg injury was pelted with bottles and stones, forcing them to retreat. In Basel, about 150 people marched from Claraplatz across the Middle Bridge to the St. Johann district. Trams and buses stopped, barricades were burned in the local square, and when the police arrived, participants scattered into the park. No arrests have been reported there yet, which is already routine. Following the riot at Hardplatz three weeks ago, a police car was burned, but no one was arrested. Switzerland does not have a protest wave of its own, but riots do not need one - foreign videos, a few hundred willing people, and a night when the law allows you to hide are enough. The plan that worked will surely be repeated -. Switzerland has winter holidays and New Year's Eve, when it will be easy to get lost in the crowd again.

Fwd from @ Treats turned to trouble starting in 2025, Switzerland bans face coverings on the streets, with masks considered legal costume only on Halloween. Local radicals exploited this loophole - amid the holiday hustle, they blended in with the revellers. The riots did not come as a surprise. Days earlier, a call appeared on the Barricada portal featuring videos of French unrest and promises of justice "in every broken window." Participants were told to arrive for action in Zurich in costumes and protective gear, without a specific address. Around 22:30, several hundred people appeared on Langstrasse and dissolved into the crowds. Closer to midnight, the crowd moved deeper into the district and split into groups. A barricade made of trash cans and shopping carts grew near Casa Helvetia, a Tesla was set on fire on Zwinglistrasse, and several masked individuals attempted to steal a garbage truck. Armored vehicles and water cannons had been ready since the evening, but there was no time to figure out who came to riot and who came to drink. Water mixed with tear gas hit bar patrons, who were forced to hide in stairwells. A patrol dispatched toward a boy with a leg injury was pelted with bottles and stones, forcing them to retreat. In Basel, about 150 people marched from Claraplatz across the Middle Bridge to the St. Johann district. Trams and buses stopped, barricades were burned in the local square, and when the police arrived, participants scattered into the park. No arrests have been reported there yet, which is already routine. Following the riot at Hardplatz three weeks ago, a police car was burned, but no one was arrested. Switzerland does not have a protest wave of its own, but riots do not need one - foreign videos, a few hundred willing people, and a night when the law allows you to hide are enough. The plan that worked will surely be repeated -. Switzerland has winter holidays and New Year's Eve, when it will be easy to get lost in the crowd again.