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Swiss police concerned about 'extremism' among corona sceptics

The Local
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Swiss police concerned about 'extremism' among corona sceptics
A sign in German which reads 'fear makes you sick'. Photo: FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP

Coronavirus scepticism is a growing problem in Switzerland. Police and intelligence services are concerned that the movement could lead to radicalisation.

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Coronavirus scepticism is on the rise in Switzerland, with ever more frequent rallies being held across the country. 

Besides the problematic scientific and health implications of the movement, experts are concerned that it may lead to radicalisation. 

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Marko Kovic, social scientist and expert on conspiracy theories, told 20 Minutes that as the movement grows and frustrations increase, the chance of violence grows. 

“For individuals, there may be no other way out of this conspiracy swamp than to defend themselves against it with violence,” Kovic said. 

"The pressure increases - and at some point it pops."

IN PICTURES: Inside Switzerland's anti-coronavirus lockdown protests 

‘A breeding ground’

Dirk Baier, professor for crime prevention and delinquency at Zurich University of Applied Sciences, said the coronavirus skeptic movement was a “breeding ground for radicalisation”. 

Baier said however that “only a small percentage would be willing to use violence”. 

The office for extremism and violence prevention in Winterthur, Zurich, received four times as many inquiries as usual in August. 

IN PICTURES: Hundreds attend coronavirus skeptic rally in Zurich 

Urs Allemann, director of the office, told Swiss news outlet 20 Minutes “some of the coronavirus-sceptical groups are likely to be susceptible to radicalisation.”

“A pattern cannot be identified, but inquiries about right-wing extremism have increased slightly. We also had isolated consultations on conspiracy theories.

“Conspiracy theories are a gateway for extremist interpretations. Some of the corona-skeptical groups are likely to be susceptible to radicalisation.”

 

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Anonymous 2020/10/01 10:03
Uh huh. I suppose if I complained to the "Office of Extremism and Violence Prevention" about the extremism that's currently rampant amongst the political and academic classes, they'd take that equally seriously? I suppose this professor is just as concerned about the left-wing radicalisation amongst his own colleagues, amongst the professoriate? <br /><br />Only yesterday I was reading on this site about how the Swiss government is still trying to ban fist bumps because they're supposedly deadly. Yet anyone who looks at the government's OWN DATA or bothers to investigate this topic even for 10 minutes will discover that 2020 was a year about as deadly as 2018 in Switzerland. In fact in week 35 cumulative deaths hit the long term average. There has been no plague in Switzerland. In Germany excess deaths are totally flat - you wouldn't be able to know any disease supposedly happened in Germany in 2020 just by eyeballing the graph. There has been no plague in Germany. Yet leaders who cannot lose face and admit they were misled by epidemiologists are all still pretending that there's some deadly plague on the loose.<br /><br />What is an intelligent citizen meant to do when faced with this parade of incompetence and delusion? Of course Corona Skepticism is on the rise, it cannot do anything BUT rise when anyone who is brave enough to look at a few graphs, read some of what passes for scientific research papers in public health, can see the evidence with their own eyes.<br /><br />SARS-CoV-2 is a real virus. It exists, the DNA is sequenced and downloadable. COVID-19, the rare but unusual form of pneumonia probably exists too, due to a multitude of reliable reports from doctors. COVID-19 the worldwide threat that justifies extreme government action is a fraud, a hoax, the product of academic and political groupthink. You don't need a conspiracy theory to explain it: just a lot of incredibly mediocre and worse people, surrounded by other people just like them, with no scientific standards and no incentive to develop, convincing themselves for decades that a "Big One" outbreak of flu was just around the corner, another Spanish Flu come to destroy humanity. Then every time a normal virus mutates a bit they try to convince us the world is ending. They tried it with Swine Flu in 2009 but most people have forgotten about it by now because it wasn't deadly. Then they tried with COVID and once you remove the people killed by lockdowns, hospital closures, health system shutdowns (e.g. quarantining healthcare staff), iatrogenic deaths caused by ventilator abuse in the early weeks etc, it turns out COVID-19 isn't particularly deadly either. The models saying it would be were all wrong because they are trivially simplistic and often horribly badly coded. <br /><br />And that's why Sweden isn't awash in bodies like we were promised. That, right there, invalidates EVERYTHING that has been happening this year. People can see it with their own eyes. The only people who are NOT skeptical about all this are those who are terrified of being labelled non-conformists, terrified of being punished for thinking for themselves.<br /><br />Now, the COVID skepticism amongst the ordinary people isn't what the Swiss police should be worried about. The ordinary people are peaceful and have little power. The people they need to worry about are those in their own ranks, in the political leaderships, in the universities themselves, in the major corporations. Some of these people can think for themselves too, even if they have to pretend they can't when talking to the public. And what will they conclude, looking at the wrecked economies, the impending huge tax rises (which will disproportionately affect them), the duplicity and fraud endemic in the public health sector? What will they conclude should be done to academia and government? Will they conclude it's a job well done? I don't think so!
Anonymous 2020/10/01 10:03
Uh huh. I suppose if I complained to the "Office of Extremism and Violence Prevention" about the extremism that's currently rampant amongst the political and academic classes, they'd take that equally seriously? I suppose this professor is just as concerned about the left-wing radicalisation amongst his own colleagues, amongst the professoriate? <br /><br />Only yesterday I was reading on this site about how the Swiss government is still trying to ban fist bumps because they're supposedly deadly. Yet anyone who looks at the government's OWN DATA or bothers to investigate this topic even for 10 minutes will discover that 2020 was a year about as deadly as 2018 in Switzerland. In fact in week 35 cumulative deaths hit the long term average. There has been no plague in Switzerland. In Germany excess deaths are totally flat - you wouldn't be able to know any disease supposedly happened in Germany in 2020 just by eyeballing the graph. There has been no plague in Germany. Yet leaders who cannot lose face and admit they were misled by epidemiologists are all still pretending that there's some deadly plague on the loose.<br /><br />What is an intelligent citizen meant to do when faced with this parade of incompetence and delusion? Of course Corona Skepticism is on the rise, it cannot do anything BUT rise when anyone who is brave enough to look at a few graphs, read some of what passes for scientific research papers in public health, can see the evidence with their own eyes.<br /><br />SARS-CoV-2 is a real virus. It exists, the DNA is sequenced and downloadable. COVID-19, the rare but unusual form of pneumonia probably exists too, due to a multitude of reliable reports from doctors. COVID-19 the worldwide threat that justifies extreme government action is a fraud, a hoax, the product of academic and political groupthink. You don't need a conspiracy theory to explain it: just a lot of incredibly mediocre and worse people, surrounded by other people just like them, with no scientific standards and no incentive to develop, convincing themselves for decades that a "Big One" outbreak of flu was just around the corner, another Spanish Flu come to destroy humanity. Then every time a normal virus mutates a bit they try to convince us the world is ending. They tried it with Swine Flu in 2009 but most people have forgotten about it by now because it wasn't deadly. Then they tried with COVID and once you remove the people killed by lockdowns, hospital closures, health system shutdowns (e.g. quarantining healthcare staff), iatrogenic deaths caused by ventilator abuse in the early weeks etc, it turns out COVID-19 isn't particularly deadly either. The models saying it would be were all wrong because they are trivially simplistic and often horribly badly coded. <br /><br />And that's why Sweden isn't awash in bodies like we were promised. That, right there, invalidates EVERYTHING that has been happening this year. People can see it with their own eyes. The only people who are NOT skeptical about all this are those who are terrified of being labelled non-conformists, terrified of being punished for thinking for themselves.<br /><br />Now, the COVID skepticism amongst the ordinary people isn't what the Swiss police should be worried about. The ordinary people are peaceful and have little power. The people they need to worry about are those in their own ranks, in the political leaderships, in the universities themselves, in the major corporations. Some of these people can think for themselves too, even if they have to pretend they can't when talking to the public. And what will they conclude, looking at the wrecked economies, the impending huge tax rises (which will disproportionately affect them), the duplicity and fraud endemic in the public health sector? What will they conclude should be done to academia and government? Will they conclude it's a job well done? I don't think so!

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