GENEVA (Reuters) – A climate activist glued his hand to a TV presenter’s podium during a public election debate in centre of the Swiss city of Geneva on Sunday, sparking jeers and boos from the crowd.
The protest by a man in a T-shirt reading “Agir Ensemble”, or “Let’s Act Together”, occurred during an interview between the TV presenter and a winning candidate for the canton of Geneva’s seven-member governing council.
“It’s a shame, sir. You are taking hostage a democratic TV show,” said Leman Bleu TV Chief Editor Jeremy Seydoux, wagging his finger at the activist.
“The people have voted today and you come here to glue your hand to the desk, it’s a shame.”
A worker for Leman Bleu is then seen in the footage attempting to remove the activist from the podium, before noticing the glue. He then returns with rubbing alcohol and the police help carry the protester away as members of the crowd shout “move!”.
Switzerland’s climate policies, deemed “insufficient” by a website which monitors government action on global warming, are a hot political issue this year ahead of a referendum on a new climate law in June.
Some activists have begun to use bolder methods, such as gluing themselves to a road in an Alpine tunnel. Separately, a group of Swiss elderly women is suing Bern at a European court in a landmark case for its “woefully inadequate” efforts to fight global warming.
(Reporting by Emma Farge and Cecile Mantovani; Editing by Nick Macfie)
