ZURICH - Around 1,000 people demonstrated in Zurich on Saturday against the war in Gaza, in a march that stayed peaceful from start to finish. The gathering began on Helvetiaplatz in district 4, moved into the city centre and returned to its starting point in the early evening, according to reports from the Keystone-SDA news agency.
The most striking moment came on Bahnhofstrasse, the city's best-known shopping street, where participants knelt down and held a minute of silence. From there the demonstration moved toward Langstrasse and back to Helvetiaplatz, pausing traffic on parts of the route through the inner city.
Large police deployment, no incidents
City police accompanied the march with a large deployment and closed sections of the centre to traffic for short periods. Many participants wore face coverings. Despite the tense atmosphere that has marked earlier protests over the Middle East conflict in Swiss cities, Saturday's demonstration ended without clashes, arrests or damage, police said.
The protest is the latest in a series of Gaza-related gatherings in Zurich since the war escalated. Saturday's turnout was smaller than the largest marches of the past two years but still significant for a autumn weekend, and the peaceful course contrasted with unauthorised rallies that ended in confrontations with police in previous years.
Trams and shoppers rerouted
The minute of silence on Bahnhofstrasse briefly halted trams along the shopping mile, and shops on the route saw customers held back while the crowd passed. Retailers said the disruption lasted under an hour in most places. Traffic in the inner city returned to normal shortly after the march dissolved at Helvetiaplatz.
Organisers had called for a dignified protest and asked participants to remain calm, a request that was broadly respected along the route. City officials said they would continue to weigh the right to demonstrate against the impact on residents and businesses in the centre, a balance that Zurich, like Bern and Geneva, is still negotiating with itself three years into the conflict.