Crushed fingers and injured police officers: Army tried out climate demonstration
Shortly after Greta’s visit to Lausanne, paramedics practiced the street battle scenario with environmental activists.
The soldiers of medical company 6 did a refresher course in Lausanne in January. They helped with the Youth Olympics and were ready to take care of injured spectators and athletes.
For January 27 – the day Brigadier Guy Vallat visited the troop – the commander in charge came up with a very special scenario. The name of the exercise: «Nostro Clima». In the fictional scenario, a climate demonstration with 600 people takes place in the Lausanne area.
The training facility was very close to reality, because climate youth in Lausanne celebrated its first anniversary just ten days earlier. Greta Thunberg spoke and several thousand students demonstrated. The event remained peaceful.
The scenario of the army is completely different. In the fantasy of the military cadres there were also 100 violent activists in the Klimademo. They act “disorganized”, “unpredictably” and in “small groups”. There is a «street battle in the Lausanne area», according to an exercise notice that is available in this newspaper.
The violent demonstrators “probably had no firearms”. The Klimademo is described under the title: “Opposing side”.
Scenario: Police officers beat demonstrators to hospital
In the scenario of the army, the violent climate demonstrators tried to “attract attention to their cause by disturbing public order”. The «spontaneous riots» of the violent population brought the civilian authorities «to the edge of their available means» to such an extent that they had to be supported by soldiers in the repetition course.
Army training scenario: A climate demonstration escalates in Lausanne. There are so many injuries that paramedics have to help. Image: ch media
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As a soldier tells the newspaper, they had to take care of the fictitious injuries. Figurines played demonstrators who had lost their fingers when they were squeezed against the gate. Others had bruises because the police beat them with batons.
The task the soldiers had to solve was to prevent the injured from the enemy camps from clashing. If they placed injured police officers next to demonstrators who had previously been beaten by the police, the figurines freaked out.
The commander in charge was a beginner
Equipped with pepper sprays, the soldiers also had to protect the medical post against possible attacks by demonstrators. However, this was not simulated during the exercise.
A soldier who was there is surprised at the exercise: «I find that the enemy is lurking inside more and more for the army. We paramedics almost only practice such scenarios. The fact that the most climate-active people are now called the opposite side is a strong piece. »
Upon request, the army confirmed that the exercise had taken place. A spokesman writes that the scenario was “purely fictional” but was chosen because of the proximity to the anti-WEF demonstrations. Neither the trainer nor the military units involved “ever intended to stigmatize the climate issue or evaluate it in any other way”.
The exercise apparently was conceived by a beginner. “The train exercise was designed and directed by the company commander, who held his first repeat course in this function and took over the company shortly before service,” says the army statement. The communication officers left open the question of how realistic a climate demo with so many injuries was.
According to the army, the term climate protesters as “opposing side” is not a “political assessment”. This means actors and other factors (such as the weather) that could make it difficult or impossible for the members of the army to fulfill their duties.
The army is basically on the exercise scenario of the escalating demonstration, but admits: “In this case, the reason for the exercise could not have been given in order to achieve the exercise objectives.” (Aargauerzeitung.ch)
