After his arrival in Bern, this Wednesday, November 15, for a two-day trip to Switzerland, the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron went to Lausanne for a meeting on the theme of Europe with Alain Berset, president of the Swiss Confederation.
Some 200 people demonstrated Thursday on the campus of the University of Lausanne to protest against the visit of French President Emmanuel Macron and denounce his position on the war between Israel and Hamas. Some demonstrators carried pots and pans and Palestinian flags. They marched, notably chanting “Macron complicit” and carrying banners reading “Stop genocide” or “Free Palestine”, reports the Swiss press agency Keystone-ATS. The fifty police officers on site used pepper spray to stop demonstrators who wanted to force the police cordon, according to the agency.
“Concert of pans”
After a few agitated minutes, calm returned, except for the “concert of pots and pans”. The demonstrators were surrounded by the police. The French president is on a state visit to Switzerland until late Thursday afternoon. He must give a speech dedicated to Europe at the end of the morning to the students and answer questions.
Security measures are imposing on the campus and inside the amphitheater where the president is to speak alongside Alain Berset, the president of the Swiss Confederation. As of Wednesday, the French president had been questioned on the subject by the press and he then re-explained at length France’s position in the conflict: “balanced” and which “has never varied”. “There is no double standard for France,” he also stressed.