Switzerland waits for Human Rights ruling

Monday, 27 November 2023 06:30

The European Court of Human Rights will rule later today if Switzerland’s ban on demonstrations at the start of the pandemic was too strict.

The government has been taken to court by Swiss unions who were not able to hold their traditional march on the 1st May in 2020. There was even the threat of prison sentences.

The government says the restrictions were necessary as it was about protecting lives against a disease which there was, at the time, no effective treatment.

The judgement will be largely symbolic. If the government looses, it will have to pay compensation to the unions.

In the past, the court has given governments leeway and has recognised covid was a serious threat to health.

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