Around 50 caravans belonging to members of a travelling community attempting to enter canton Valais in southern Switzerland without prior warning were blocked by police.
So they asked beforehand if there was space for them, and they were told it was not. They were told by the police to exit the highway, and they did not.
Unless there’s more to the story than what the article says, this is some seriously entitled behaviour
They’re literally ‘entitled’ to use Swiss roads. You don’t need to ask police permission to drive somewhere. If they thought the caravan was going to park somewhere illegally, they could intervene then once an actual crime has been committed.
But none of this is about actual crime. It’s just NIMBY racism.
The article does say that it was the local council that wanted to prevent them from moving there.
I’m not saying there definitely is a discriminatory motive… I do not know how the people of Switzerland look at the Romani people.
But given the way Roma are treated in much of Europe, and Switzerland’s reputation for being somewhat conservative, I am not discounting the possibility that they are being discriminated against here.
The equivalent in the US would be if a couple of families of black people wanted to move to a predominantly white town in the south, and the county would step in claiming there are no more homes available.
Specifically the Valais is very conservative, so I would not be surprised if it were purely discriminatory. Also free camping above 2k is legal and a lot of Valais is above 2k.
So they asked beforehand if there was space for them, and they were told it was not. They were told by the police to exit the highway, and they did not.
Unless there’s more to the story than what the article says, this is some seriously entitled behaviour
They’re literally ‘entitled’ to use Swiss roads. You don’t need to ask police permission to drive somewhere. If they thought the caravan was going to park somewhere illegally, they could intervene then once an actual crime has been committed.
But none of this is about actual crime. It’s just NIMBY racism.
The article does say that it was the local council that wanted to prevent them from moving there.
I’m not saying there definitely is a discriminatory motive… I do not know how the people of Switzerland look at the Romani people.
But given the way Roma are treated in much of Europe, and Switzerland’s reputation for being somewhat conservative, I am not discounting the possibility that they are being discriminated against here.
The equivalent in the US would be if a couple of families of black people wanted to move to a predominantly white town in the south, and the county would step in claiming there are no more homes available.
Specifically the Valais is very conservative, so I would not be surprised if it were purely discriminatory. Also free camping above 2k is legal and a lot of Valais is above 2k.