Far-left activists plunged Geneva into chaos on Sunday, clashing with police, setting fires, and vandalising businesses to protest against President Donald Trump’s meeting with the G7 nations on Monday.
As leaders of the world’s leading economies are set to hold a summit in Évian, France, leftist agitators used the opportunity to riot across the border in nearby Geneva.
The protest was forced to be held 50 kilometres from the actual summit, as the French government barred demonstrations on its territory against the G7.
According to authorities, an estimated 50,000 protesters were expected in the Swiss city, while 7,000 police officers were deployed in a bid to prevent the unrest that has come to define the lestist response to G7 meetings.
A protester kicks at a window during a “No G7” demonstration in Geneva, Switzerland, Sunday, June 14, 2026, ahead of the G7 summit scheduled to take place June 15-17. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
The Swiss German-language daily Blick reported that around 5 pm local time, the protest took a violent turn, which saw a Tesla car set on fire and burnt to a crisp, while a nearby bank had its shop windows smashed in with hammers.
The paper reported that demonstrators also clashed with police, with rioters using iron bars, bicycles, and wooden sticks to assault officers.
Blick further reported that some agitators broke into a construction site, which they raided to use building materials and construction tools as makeshift weapons and missiles against the police.
In turn, police deployed tear gas and water cannons against the protesters to quell some of the most violent members of the demonstration.
G7 meetings have frequently been targeted by violent anti-capitalist protests, including in the 2001 summit in Genoa, which saw around 100 police officers injured during riots and a young protester, Carlo Giuliani, 23, shot and killed by police.
A protester kicks a canister during a “No G7” demonstration in Geneva, Switzerland, Sunday, June 14, 2026, ahead of the G7 summit scheduled to take place June 15-17. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
A previous summit in Évian also turned violent in 2003 as hundreds of “black bloc” leftists blocked roads, clashed with police, set cars on fire, used molotov cocktails, and ransacked shops.
Due to this history, many shops in the area boarded up their windows and storefronts in preparation for Sunday’s G7 meeting.
While the casus belli for the protest was supposedly a pushback against international capitalism, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung paper noted that all sorts of leftists joined the demo, including radical feminists, communists, trade unionists, and pro-Palestine activists.