Large security operation around Lake Geneva ahead of French G7 meeting

TT

Published 08.52

 

Pro-Palestinian boat protest on Lake Geneva ahead of G7 meeting. Photo: Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone/AP/TT

The G7 meeting, which begins in France on Monday, is prompting a large security operation in Switzerland. The army is on standby for widespread protests.

The G7 meeting will take place from June 15-17 in the small French spa town of Évian-les-Bains. But the world leaders will arrive at the nearest major airport, in Geneva, across the border from Switzerland.

It is also in the Swiss capital that authorities are preparing for demonstrations. Shopkeepers, who fear a repeat of the riots in connection with the G8 meeting in Évian-les-Bains in 2003, have put up wooden boards over their windows.

In Lausanne, Switzerland, across from Évian on the other side of Lake Geneva, readiness is also high. At least 20 boats carrying pro-Palestinian activists set off from there in boats for a demonstration at sea on Saturday.
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