Bern: prohibited demonstration

In Bern, between 500 and 1,000 people demonstrated against the WEF. Hundreds of police from the canton Bern and across north-west Switzerland were there to stop the demonstration – the bourgeois press spoke of a "record-breaking police operation". They used water cannons, tear gas and rubber bullets, and during the course of the day they arrested 242 people.
The authorization for the demonstration had been taken back two days earlier (January 17). The official reason: the organizers didn't want to distance themselves from violence. In reality there were two reasons: firstly, the authorities wanted to avoid a defeat like on October 6, 2007, as a march by the racist, ringt-wing populist Swiss People's Party (SVP) in Bern was stopped by militant resistance. Secondly, they wanted to let the police practice different repression tactics in the run-up to the European Cup, which will be held in Switzerland and Austria in June.
Police officers were stationed at every corner in the inner city and stopped young people, many of whom were arrested for "attempt to disturb the peace" (!!!). The spokesman of the demonstration committee was taken away by the police in the middle of a press conference. Even journalists were among those arrested. It must be considered a success that so many people followed the call from the "Alliance for Global Resistance" despite the prohibition of the demonstration.

St. Gallen: non-prohibited demonstration

In St. Gallen in eastern Switzerland, roughly 150 people demonstrated against the WEF as well. The action was organized by the Anti-WEF Alliance of St. Gallen, which consisted of about 15 groups including the Social and Environmental Forum of Eastern Switzerland, the Jusos, the Greens and the youth organization REVOLUTION.
Under the motto "Justice instead of profit maximization", people marched through the inner city with banners and flags. At several squares there were brief stops with speeches. A representative of the Political Women's Group explained how patriarchal oppression is connected with the neoliberal economic system. In the speech from the youth organization REVOLUTION it was "class struggle pure" (as the bourgeois press reported), namely it was said: "We have to fight the real cause, the capitalist system." And: "The wealth of the capitalists is created only by the exploitation of the working class." The chants from the megaphone were also in a fighting spirit, such as "Hoch die internationale solidarität!" or "Swiss banks and Swiss money / are killing all over the world!"
The demonstration in St. Gallen wasn't attacked by the police and as a result there were no conflicts. The organizers hadn't distanced themselves from violence either, but then again no one had asked them.

by Wladek Flakin, from the independent youth organization REVOLUTION ( http://www.revolution.int.tc)

the report in German:
 http://de.indymedia.org/2008/01/205819.shtml

pictures from Bern:
 http://ch.indymedia.org/de/2008/01/56467.shtml

pictures from St. Gallen:
Tanja Bunke, Revo St. Gallen