Lucerne voters to decide measures against football fan violence

Lucerne voters will decide on September 27 whether to adopt measures against violence at football matches, SRF reported. A Mitte party initiative calls for stricter controls, including mandatory identification for spectators, while the cantonal government supports a narrower counterproposal.

The initiative was launched in 2023 after violent incidents and damage to buses during fan marches from Lucerne railway station to the stadium on the Allmend. It calls for three main measures: compulsory identification when buying or attending a football match, binding plans for fans’ journeys to and from matches, and the power to progressively tighten requirements for staging matches after violent incidents.

Daniel Rüttimann, a Mitte member of the cantonal parliament, said the measures would remove perpetrators from anonymity and place greater responsibility on organisers, clubs and visiting clubs. The travel plans would cover journeys by train, at railway stations and in public spaces, where rival fan groups can come into conflict.

The cantonal government rejects the initiative. Ylfete Fanaj, Lucerne’s director of justice and security, said its measures were ineffective and not coordinated with national measures. She said such isolated solutions would not achieve the intended result.

The government’s counterproposal would clarify the legal requirement for permits. High-risk matches would require individual approval, with clear conditions for organisers, particularly on prevention, dialogue and the visiting team’s travel arrangements.

It would also establish a clear legal basis for police video surveillance during fan marches and when spectators enter stadiums, allowing police to pursue individual offenders more effectively.

The Mitte party says the counterproposal merely puts current practice into law and does not change the system. The cantonal parliament rejected the initiative by 76 votes to 33 and approved the government’s counterproposal unanimously, with 112 votes in favour. Mitte supported the counterproposal in parliament but is urging voters to choose its initiative in the tie-break question.

Lucerne voters will also decide on September 27 on longer opening hours for some self-service shops and farm shops, the expansion and conversion of Reussbühl cantonal school for 81.4 million Swiss francs, and an increase in economic development funding financed with 250 million Swiss francs a year from revenue generated by the OECD minimum tax.