Police and protesters clash at anti-G7 protests in Switzerland
Geneva police fired tear gas at protesters who set fire to a Tesla vehicle and broke windows of a United Nations agency, this Sunday (14), in protest against the G7 summit taking place in France.
About 20,000 people gathered for an initially peaceful march, but protesters later attacked what they saw as symbols of capitalism and multilateralism, including a parked Tesla car and the UN office.
Protesters ripped bricks from the ground to throw at police, while children cried as tear gas spread through the sunny streets of central Geneva, according to Reuters news agency witnesses.
Over the years, protests have been common at G7 meetings, with many demonstrators taking advantage of the summits to denounce capitalism, globalization, climate change and inequality.
The demonstrators said they came to protest against the G7, which they see as a symbol of the concentration of political and economic power. Last week, Elon Musk, owner of Tesla and former advisor to American President Donald Trump, became the world's first trillionaire.
"For me, it's a gathering of the rich that demonstrates, once again, how the rich can get even richer while the poor are left behind," said protester Pippa Saugy.
G7 Summit
The G7 summit, which will take place between the 15th and 17th of June, in Évian-les-Bains, on the shores of Lake Geneva, will bring together the leaders of France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, as well as the European Union.
Wars in the Middle East and Ukraine are likely to dominate the agenda, while leaders will seek to avoid a confrontation with Trump, who is trying to finalize a preliminary peace deal with Iran.
In Geneva, shops were boarded up and hundreds of riot police were deployed on the streets, amid earlier concerns about the possibility of violence.
Mattia Piccard was irritated by the strong police presence. "This is an attempt to intimidate protesters, to scare people and discourage them from coming out to protest," Piccard said.
Clélia Colin, another protester, said she wanted to raise the issue of gender inequality. "The values represented by the G7 are completely misogynistic and contribute to inequality," she said.
Source: CNN