The 100 environmental activists, including three Portuguese, who were detained in Switzerland following a protest on Tuesday against Europe’s biggest trade fair and exhibition for private jets were released on Wednesday night.
The information was given this Thursday to Lusa Sara Gaspar, an activist from Rebellion Científica Portugal, who was arrested in Geneva and returns to Portugal, by car, along with other Portuguese, from the organizations Abolir Jatos Privados and Climax. .
According to Sara Gaspar, the activists now have 10 days to challenge the accusations against them, namely violation of space, damage and coercion. The penalty, a 120-day fine, will be suspended for three years.
On Tuesday, according to international environmental organizations, 100 activists from 17 countries were arrested in Geneva after a protest against the EBACE fair which temporarily blocked air traffic at the city’s airport, the second largest in Switzerland and which hosted the event, for about an hour.
The protest was aimed at denouncing the pollution caused by private plane flights in the context of “an unprecedented climate crisis.”
Activists entered the jets on display, chained themselves to the aircraft’s access stairs, preventing visitors and shoppers from entering, and displayed signs, similar to the labels on cigarette packs, Alert on the harmful effects of “luxury mega polluters”.
On Tuesday, in a statement, the organizations Greenpeace, Stay Grounded, Extinction Rebellion and Scientist Rebellion expressed concern about “reports of excessive use of force against protesters” by police in a “peaceful protest.”
In Lusa, activist Sara Gaspar, from Rebelión Científica Portugal, said that several protesters were violently hit with “pepper spray”, having been prevented by the police from receiving assistance from other protesters.
Source: Observadora
