Switzerland condemns environmental activists who took part in the protest

Swiss justice this Wednesday sentenced 102 activists who protested on Tuesday against an exhibition of private jets, which took place in the area adjacent to Geneva airport, to the payment of monetary sanctions.

In a statement quoted by the Efe news agency, local authorities found 102 activists guilty of trespassing, damaging property and violent acts, while another minor was sent to juvenile court.

One of the convicts was also found guilty of violence or threatening authorities for injuring a guard on Tuesday.

Among the arrested activists are three Portuguese, spokesman for the Abolir Jets Privados (AJP) group Noah Zino told Lusa, who specified that one belongs to the AJP and two to the organizations Climáximo and Scientist Rebellion Portugal.

The fine is a conditional monetary sanction, so activists will only have to pay it in a situation of recidivism, having already been released from judicial arrest.

Environmental groups such as Greenpeace or Extinction Rebellion have denounced police intervention to eliminate activists using pepper spray.

The action resulted in airport authorities shutting down air traffic in the area, although the environmental groups involved said on Wednesday that the activists did not cross the airport’s runway and had no intention of doing so.

The detainees arrived from 17 countries, including Spain, Switzerland, France, Germany, the UK, Italy and Germany, and their main goal was to boycott the European Commercial Aviation Exhibition and Convention, the largest private jet exhibition in Europe.

Controversy over the use of private jets is not new in Switzerland. In January, Greenpeace criticized the use of planes to transport attendees of the World Economic Forum in Davos, also in Switzerland, pointing out that planes emit as much carbon dioxide as 350,000 cars.