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Emergency services in Lausanne: two nights of street battles between youths and police.
sda
The death of a 17-year-old during a police pursuit has led to street battles in Lausanne. The incident is one in a series of fatal police interventions and raises questions about racism and police culture.
Lausanne has been thrown into turmoil following the death of a 17-year-old during a police pursuit. For two nights, youths and police fought street battles in the Prélaz district.
Early on Sunday morning, the teenager lost control while fleeing on a stolen scooter in a 30 km/h zone and had a fatal accident. That same day, young people gathered at the scene of the accident, erected barricades, set fire to containers and threw fireworks at the police.
The police responded with water cannons and tear gas, and seven people were arrested. Things finally remained calm on Tuesday evening, probably also thanks to an increased police presence.
The incident is one in a series of fatal police operations in the canton of Vaud that raise questions about structural racism and the lack of a response. Trust in the police in French-speaking Switzerland appears to have been severely shaken.
Western Switzerland, and the canton of Vaud in particular, has a strikingly high number of deaths following police operations compared to the rest of Switzerland. According to an analysis by Border Forensics, 83 people have died in connection with police action throughout Switzerland since 1992, 8 of them in Vaud in the last 9 years alone.
A look at the cases shows parallels: in 2016, the police shot 27-year-old Hervé Mandundu in Bex. In 2018, Nigerian Mike Ben Peter died after a brutal arrest in Lausanne. In 2021, Roger "Nzoy" Wilhelm from Zurich was shot dead at Morges train station while in a mental health crisis. All the victims were black men and all the cases ended without a conviction.
This accumulation raises questions: Is this a series of tragic individual cases or a structural problem?
This week's revelations point to more than individual misconduct. More than 50 Lausanne police officers exchanged racist, sexist and homophobic content in chat groups. Mayor Grégoire Junod spoke of a "problem of systemic racism" within the 1,900-strong force.
It has also become known that a police officer who is said to have been involved in the chats used to work for the Lausanne police force and has now transferred to the cantonal police.
"First of all, it must be clarified whether he played an active or passive role," Vaud's security director Vassilis Venizelos told "24 heures". Sanctions are possible, he emphasized, and spoke of "zero tolerance towards such actions".
In order to restore trust, Venizelos called for swift reforms, including the introduction of body cameras in the cantonal police force. Initial tests have shown that the cameras often have a de-escalating effect simply by being switched on. "This is an instrument that should be introduced across the board very soon", he explained on RTS television in French-speaking Switzerland.
These incidents suggest that the deaths occur in a culture that allows or reinforces discriminatory patterns. In this context, experts speak of a strong "cop culture " - an esprit de corps that places internal loyalty above external control.
There is also a structural problem: in Switzerland, local public prosecutors are usually responsible for investigating their own police forces, a constellation that makes independent proceedings difficult.
In recent days, the situation in Lausanne has occasionally been compared to the unrest in French banlieues. According to SRF correspondent Roman Fillinger, this comparison is exaggerated: While there are social tensions and a high level of migration in Prélaz, it lacks the structures of organized gang violence as in Paris or Marseille. Moreover, the violence has so far been comparatively limited and there have been no injuries.
Nevertheless, western Switzerland stands out. While hardly any fatal police incidents are recorded in other parts of the country, the canton of Vaud has been the negative leader for years. And this is in a region with only 820,000 inhabitants, an accumulation that is otherwise more common in metropolitan areas such as Paris or Brussels.
Experts point to several possible factors: a traditionally tough policing style, a judicial system that rarely holds police officers to account and the population structure with a high proportion of migrants in and around Lausanne. This interplay can lead to tensions, especially in the context of racial profiling.
Social science studies, for example on the importance of procedural justice in Switzerland or the mistrust of young people with a migrant background in Germany, show that a lack of trust is a risk: In societies where marginalized groups structurally have less trust in the police, the risk of escalation during police checks or prosecutions increases.
This pattern is also evident in Lausanne. The fatal accident involving the 17-year-old coincided with an already tense situation, exacerbated by the revelations of racist police brutality.
The recent riots cannot therefore be explained by the accident alone. They are also linked to a loss of trust in the security authorities, which has grown as a result of several fatal police incidents and a lack of investigation in recent years.
Security director Vassilis Venizelos spoke of a "minority that soils the uniform" and emphasized: "The people behind the messages and pictures on the WhatsApp groups have no place in the police force." However, the vast majority of police officers do their job well. It is now crucial to regain lost trust with reforms, transparency and clear accountability.
