Miscellaneous Property damage and disturbances accompany Halloween

On Halloween this year, there was once again damage to property and disturbances of the peace across the country. The police were called out dozens of times in various cantons because of eggs thrown at houses, stones thrown at buses, fireworks and disturbances of the peace.

In the canton of Zurich, containers were set on fire and two buses were damaged with stones. Most of the incidents in the canton were caused by eggs being thrown at buildings and vehicles and pyrotechnics being set off, as the Zurich cantonal police reported on Friday morning.

In Winterthur, the city police recorded ten Halloween incidents. Three people, two of them masked and at least one with a knife, assaulted a man and robbed him of around 100 francs. The city police were also called out three times due to pyrotechnics being set off and six eggs being thrown at facades and cars.

However, several Zurich police organizations emphasized that the incidents were limited compared to previous years and that the vast majority of the children and young people dressed up in scary costumes were peaceful.

Various incidents of damage to property also occurred in Aargau. However, thanks to prevention and controls, the evening was largely calm, according to the Aargau cantonal police. In the Basel region, mainly eggs were thrown at buses. There were no incidents in the city of Basel.

Majority of those in disguise correct

Around a dozen reports were received in the canton of Solothurn. According to the police, these mainly involved eggs being thrown at house facades or the noise of fireworks. The vast majority of children and young people behaved correctly and decently. The presence of the youth police and other patrols in uniform and in plain clothes proved to be a success.

In Thonex in the canton of Geneva, a youth was arrested after injuring a police officer with mortar fire.

Halloween refers to the night before All Saints' Day. Celtic origins are suspected, but have not been proven. According to mythology, the dead went in search of the living who would die the following year. To scare off the evil spirits, people dressed up in frightening costumes and even haunted the streets at night.

Halloween was originally only celebrated in areas of the British Isles that remained Catholic, particularly in Ireland. Emigrants brought the custom to the USA and from there it came to continental Europe in the 1990s.

SDA