Clashes erupt in Geneva as G7 protesters confront police ahead of Evian summit

GENEVA: Clashes broke out in Geneva on Sunday between protesters and police, including near the United Nations headquarters, a day before the G7 summit was due to begin in nearby Evian, France, AFP journalists reported.

According to AFP journalists at the scene, small groups of protesters, many wearing black clothing and masks, hurled bottles, stones, chunks of cement and firecrackers at police. Officers responded with tear gas and water cannons.

Several buildings were hit during the unrest, including the offices of the UN’s International Telecommunication Union and a nearby property belonging to PricewaterhouseCoopers, the multinational accounting and consulting firm. Protesters were unable to approach the UN’s European headquarters across the square, where security had been tightened with large water-cannon trucks stationed outside. AFP journalists inside the UN building reported hearing explosions, frequent police sirens and helicopters circling overhead.

The demonstration had begun peacefully as protesters gathered with banners carrying anti-G7 messages, including No to the G7 and all imperialist alliances! and Abort the G7. The march was part of protests against the Group of Seven leaders, whose three-day annual summit opens on Monday.

Geneva authorities had deployed a heavy police presence amid concerns about a repeat of the violence seen when a similar summit was held in Evian in 2003. As the march moved through a barricaded city under helicopter surveillance, demonstrators chanted slogans linked to Palestinian solidarity, climate action, feminism and anti-capitalist causes.

Soon after the procession began, however, groups of masked, black-clad protesters broke through barriers set up to protect some upscale apartment buildings along the route and set cars on fire. AFP journalists said they saw a Tesla vehicle burning, marked with the words Eat the Rich.

Further confrontations with police followed, with protesters shouting anti-police slogans, including Down with the police state. Later, demonstrators returned to the park on the shore of Lake Geneva where the rally had started, and clashes with police continued there.

By evening, police estimated that 20,000 people had taken part in the protest, including about 600 protesters identified as part of the so-called Black Bloc radical movement.