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- There were riots in the city of St. Gallen on Friday night.
- The young adults attacked the police, who responded with gunshots of rubber and irritating gas.
- Two people were injured and 21 were temporarily detained. Police officers were not injured.
According to Mayor Maria Pappa (SP), the riots in downtown St. Gallen on Saturday night were caused by a small group of violent youth. A large part of the young people behaved peacefully, Pappa told the media. He called for “zero tolerance” for such acts of violence.
A total of 21 arrests
Police temporarily arrested 21 people. Six of them come from the city of St. Gallen, 13 from eastern Switzerland and two from the rest of Switzerland. This was announced by Police Commander Ralph Hurni.
St. Gallen Police Chief Sonja Lüthi (GLP) defended the police operation as “appropriate” after the night of the riot and condemned the acts of chaos violence “in the strongest terms”. They are intolerable, the councilor told the media.
Some of the violence took place under the “protective mantle of Corona,” Lüthi said. The police were well prepared before the calls for violence. He put “prevention and dialogue” and only intervened when the mood had changed and people’s safety was in danger.
“Violence against the police is completely wrong”
The relatively few angry people would be held accountable, Pappa said. There is zero tolerance, with all understanding of the current tense situation surrounding the coronavirus pandemic. St. Gallen and other cities should not become a place of violence out of frustration or boredom. “Violence against the police is completely wrong.”
There was a mixed crowd in the city, and some of these people came from other regions of Switzerland.
Despite calls for violence, many young people have traveled peacefully. However, some had the objective of exercising violence. Fortunately, only a few people were injured and the damage was limited.
