Climate change activists occupy Zurich’s financial district

Police this morning began clearing a group of Climate Strike activists occupying the heart of Zurich’s financial district.

Around 200 activists from the Climate Strike Switzerland group gathered outside the UBS and Credit Suisse headquarters to protest the financing of environmentally damaging fossil fuel projects.

According to “Rise Up for Change”, a group bringing together organisations including Climate Strike Switzerland and Extinction Rebellion, today’s action took aim at the role played by financial institutions in funding environmentally damaging projects.

In a further statement they accused banks, including the Swiss National Bank, of investing billions in projects that extract or use petrol, coal and gas, while people around the world are dying due to the climate crisis.

Bike chains, barrels and tripods were set up to block entry as activists sang and chanted outside.

Groups of sit-in protestors chanting ‘we are responsible’ and ‘break the power of banks and corporations’ can be seen in drone footage released by Blick.

Police began clearing the activists around 2 hours after the protests began. According to a press release from the Zurich City Police Department, roughly thirty people have been provisionally arrested so far. The arrested protestors have been take taken to police stations for further clarification. The riot group of Zurich’s Public Prosecutor’s Office will decide on the next steps.

Monday’s protest was part of a week of action organised by “Rise up for Change”. The activist group plan to move on to Bern this Friday, for a protest in front of the Swiss National Bank.