France, Switzerland Tighten 7 Border Crossings for G7 as 17,000 Troops Brace for Protests
Updated
Updated · The Associated Press · Jun 11
France, Switzerland Tighten 7 Border Crossings for G7 as 17,000 Troops Brace for Protests
3 articles · Updated · The Associated Press · Jun 11
Summary
French and Swiss authorities will impose week-long, pandemic-style controls around the June 15-17 G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, with only 7 of 35 roadway border crossings left open.
About 17,000 security personnel are being mobilized — 13,000 French police and gendarmes plus 4,000 Swiss army troops — alongside airspace limits, Lake Geneva patrols and a cordoned summit zone.
Geneva businesses are boarding up storefronts, the WTO is closing offices and shifting staff remote, and French officials urged 110,000 daily cross-border commuters to postpone nonessential travel or work from home.
A 6 million Swiss franc ($7.6 million) Geneva fund will cover protest-related business damage as authorities ban unplanned gatherings, though one authorized march is set for June 14.
The crackdown reflects fears of anti-Trump and anti-capitalist unrest and memories of the 2003 G8 summit in Geneva, when violent protests smashed storefronts.