Zurich should not tolerate any public World Cup public viewings
The Ratslinke has asked the Zurich City Council not to tolerate any public viewings of the World Cup in public spaces.
Business is extremely tight. The soccer World Cup in Qatar begins on Sunday.
Nevertheless, the Zurich municipal council decided at its meeting on Wednesday, November 16, 2022 to take action against public broadcasts.
The city council must examine the proposal not to allow or fund public viewings on public land.
With 65 votes to 42, with seven abstentions, it passed houses of Parliament a postulate of the left AL.
Advance has primarily symbolic value
Mischa Schiwow (AL) said that his party was aware that the initiative came late and was primarily of symbolic value.
«We can, just as the seat of FIFA, don’t just say nothing about it,” he said. The AL submitted the request both because of the human rights situation and for climate policy reasons.
Most of the voters agree that the award to Qatar was wrong. Lisa Diggelmann (SP) said that Qatar wanted to cleanse themselves with sport.
The advance would be a strong sign to the FIFA.
Human rights in Qatar are discussed
Ronny Siev (GLP) emphasized that the Arab country, apart from being held responsible for human rights violations among workers and disregarding the rights of women and gays, is one of the biggest financiers of extremist organizations such as IS or Hamas be.
Stephan Iten (SVP called the award “crazy”, but the advance of the AL was just as crazy. Zurich can neither save the world climate nor bring world peace.
He spoke of paternalism by red-green. Iten also recalled that restaurateurs are still suffering the consequences of corona-Pandemic suffered.
Michael Schmid (FDP) states why the demand had not come earlier in the 12 years since the award.
No fan zone in other cities either
“What you are doing here is, at best, cheap indignation management,” said Schmid. There is only one application for a public viewing in the city of Zurich that requires approval.
Ultimately, the requested ban is likely to be more of a symbolic act. The question also arises as to whether the city council can consider it before Sunday.
With the postulate, the AL demands that Zurich behave in a similar way to around twenty French cities or the western Swiss cities of Lausanne and Vevey.
In Lausanne, the city administration does not have a fan zone on public land. Vevey goes one step further. The city has banned the establishment of all fan zones.
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