A LAKESIDE Swiss city has exploded into violence after the death of a migrant teen – with youths torching buses, lobbing Molotov cocktails and pelting police with stones.
Lausanne has seen a second night of running street battles as 200 rioters clashed with 140 officers.
People carry containers to the middle of the street and set them on fire to create barricades in Lausanne, Switzerland[/caption]
Fireworks explode near a police officer in riot gear[/caption]
Protesters burn containers during the second night of riots in the Swiss lakeside town[/caption]
Lausanne has seen nights of violence after a migrant teen died fleeing police on a stolen scooter[/caption]
Fireworks, firebombs and burning barricades turned central streets into a warzone, with a bus left gutted and bins set alight.
Police fought back with water cannons, tear gas and rubber bullets.
Seven arrests were made before calm was restored after midnight, Bild reported.
Lausanne authorities moved swiftly on Tuesday to try to head off a third night of violence, deploying extra resources and appealing for calm.
The trigger was the fatal crash of 17-year-old Marvin M., of Algerian descent, who died while fleeing police on a stolen scooter early Sunday.
Officers said he lost control at high speed in a 18mph zone.
Police confirmed the scooter had been reported stolen the previous day and said a patrol car had been following Marvin before the crash.
Prosecutors later issued a statement stressing there was a “significant distance” between the teen and the police car, and “no contact” between them.
Anger had already been simmering after a 14-year-old girl was killed in June while also fleeing police on a motorcycle.
One teen told outlet SRF: “We want to know the truth about the accidents.”
The death was the third in less than three months in Lausanne during a police intervention, and the seventh in the city and wider Vaud region since 2016.
Five of those who died were men of African origin, fuelling claims of discrimination.
Marvin’s family deny he was a thief.
His mum told 24 Heures he was innocent, while his brother wrote online: “You should be with me, at home, in our room, which we’ve always shared.”
His friends described him as an aspiring rapper, saying violence on the streets was “not typical of Marvin.”
But grief over the teen’s death quickly tipped into rage.
Rioters reportedly tried to attack an anti-immigration politician from the SVP party, according to Visegrád 24.
Another man was chased through the streets by a mob of 50 shouting “He’s a fascist!”, The Informant reported on X.
Police detailed the scale of the clashes: on Sunday night “around 100 young people, wearing balaclavas” torched containers and damaged a bus.
On Monday, 150–200 rioters escalated the violence, blocking roads with burning trash and forcing officers to fire 54 tear gas grenades.
Lausanne’s security councillor Pierre-Antoine Hildbrand raged: “Pyrotechnic devices were used against the police; it’s scandalous.
“We are facing a movement that has nothing to do with the death of this youth, but which is using it as an excuse to attack law enforcement. It’s disgraceful.”
Police used water cannons and tear gas, making seven arrests after two nights of clashes[/caption]
Rioters torched buses, threw Molotov cocktails, and pelted police with stones[/caption]
The violence marks Switzerland’s first significant migrant-related riots, according to reports[/caption]
For decades, Switzerland avoided the migrant-fuelled unrest that has scarred its neighbours.
But Visegrád 24 warned Lausanne marks the country’s “first migrant riots,” saying cultural spillover from France’s no-go zones is taking hold.
Meanwhile, Lausanne’s police force faces a separate storm.
Racist, sexist and discriminatory messages exchanged in WhatsApp groups by current and former officers were uncovered by prosecutors.
Four officers have been suspended, with more suspensions expected.
Mayor Gregoire Junod said: “There is a systemic discrimination problem that needs to be addressed,” calling for a “cultural change” inside the force.
City officials said they were “deeply shocked and scandalised by these messages, which harm the credibility of the police as a whole and the necessary relationship of trust between the population and the police.”
A wider crisis
The Lausanne violence comes as Europe grapples with wave after wave of migrant-linked turmoil.
In the Netherlands, the country was left reeling after 17-year-old Lisa was brutally murdered while cycling home from a night out.
She was reportedly on the phone to police when tragedy struck, with officers reportedly listening helplessly as she was attacked.
The suspect is said to be a Nigerian asylum seeker already accused of rape.
Her death was the latest trigger to national fury, mass protests and a political storm over asylum policy.
In Sweden, gang wars have transformed one of Europe’s safest nations into one of its most violent.
Shootings, bombings and gangland killings now dominate headlines, with police linking much of the bloodshed to immigrant-heavy crime networks.
Explosions tore through neighbourhoods in January alone, fuelling public anger and prompting calls for military support to help overstretched officers.
Meanwhile in Britain, a record number of asylum seekers are straining the system.
More than 32,000 migrants are being housed in taxpayer-dunded hotels, costing billions and sparking local protests.
The government’s response – from controversial schemes to “one in, one out” migration deals with France – has done little to calm public fury.
Even Europe‘s holiday hotspots are buckling.
Officials in Spain‘s Balearic Islands warn they are at breaking point from near-daily small boat landings, while Italy has cut a deal with Albania to ship asylum seekers abroad.
Burning containers block the streets of Lausanne[/caption]
