Swiss town bans asylum seekers from public places

Switzerland’s local authorities have introduced draconian restrictions which ban asylum-seekers from frequenting public places such as school playgrounds, swimming pools and libraries in a move angrily denounced by human rights groups as intolerable and racist.

In the town of Bremgarten west of Zurich, where a new centre for asylum-seekers opened last month, officials said refugees would not be allowed to “loiter” in school playgrounds and would be banned from visiting public swimming pools, playing fields and a church. A total of 32 “exclusion zones” have been drawn up. Raymond Tellenbach, the town’s mayor, said: “We have decided on security grounds not to allow access to these areas, to prevent conflict and guard against possible drug use.”



Mario Gattiker, the head of Switzerland’s Federal Office of Immigration which endorsed the apartheid-style restrictions, justified the move, saying: “We need rules to ensure a peaceful and orderly coexistence of residents and asylum-seekers.” However a spokesman for Switzerland’s non-governmental Refugee Council described the restraining orders as “intolerable and inhuman” and demanded that the authorities suspend the measures.

“It is up to the authorities to create an atmosphere of openness,” the spokesman added. The human rights group Solidarité Sans Frontières said the restrictions were “blatantly discriminatory.” However Roman Staub, the mayor of the nearby town of Menzingen said he fully supported banning asylum seekers from the vicinity of schools: “This is certainly a very difficult area, because asylum-seekers could meet our schoolchildren – young girls our young boys,” he remarked.