Anti-Globalist Geneva Protests Turn Violent Ahead of G7

Geneva police used tear gas on Sunday on demonstrators who set fire to a Tesla and smashed windows at a UN agency building, as protesters vented their anger ahead of the G7 summit. The summit is due to be held across the border in the French town of Evian-les-Bains on Lake Geneva from Monday to Wednesday.

Around 20,000 people gathered for the march, which was initially peaceful before protesters targeted what they described as symbols of capitalism and multilateralism, including a parked Tesla and a UN office. Demonstrators ripped paving stones from the ground and threw them at police, while children cried as tear gas drifted through the sun-soaked streets of central Geneva, witnesses told Reuters.

Protesters said they had come to demonstrate against the G7 as a symbol of concentrated political and economic power. "To me, it's a meeting of the rich that shows once again how the rich can become even richer while the poor are left behind", said protester Pippa Saugy.

Geneva's business owners had boarded up their premises and hundreds of police were deployed on the streets in anticipation of violence.

(reuters, im)