Clashes Erupt During Protests Against the Forum of Davos

Featured image: Protesters against the Forum of Davos, Partizan members among them Source: Avrupa Haber.

Thousands of people gathered at Zurich Bürkliplatz on Monday, January 19, 2026, at 6:30 PM to demonstrate against the World Economic Forum (WEF) of Davos, Avrupa Haber reports.

The march ended at Helvetiaplatz. However, a crowd including Partizan members, and various revolutionary and democratic organizations marched from Helvetiaplatz towards Zurich Bahnhof (train station) and staged a sit-in. Police surrounded the crowd and attacked. Clashes ensued between the crowd and the police as the crowd resisted. Barricades were erected, turning the streets into areas of resistance, while the police attacked with tear gas and water cannons. The crowd continued their resistance, returning to Helvetiaplatz where they ended the protest.

Avrupa Haber reports that the WEF is “one of the centers of the imperialist-capitalist system”. Avrupa Haber defines that this year the Forum is “Held during a period of deepening inter-imperialist contradictions, accelerated wars of partition, and regional occupations, the summit sparked mass protests in many Swiss cities.” Additionally A Nova Democracia (AND) explains that this year the WEF has a consensus among its participants: “the world has “entered an era of competition,” “characterized by fragmentation and confrontations” between the different imperialist states and the financial capital of their respective imperialist bourgeoisie”. There are concerns of political fragmentation in the upcoming decade as well as an increasing economic crisis, which AND defines as “the upcoming cyclical crisis of overproduction of capital within the unprecedented general crisis of decomposition.”