Valais police warn students against sharing school blockade calls

Valais cantonal police have warned students that sharing calls for school blockades could bring disciplinary or legal consequences, drawing criticism from a law professor, SRF reports.

In an Instagram post, the police said participation in or online support for blockades could lead to warnings, suspensions or proceedings. It also warned that sharing such calls could cause lasting damage to students’ reputations. The post included an AI-generated image.

Police told French-language broadcaster RTS that they had received several calls for blockades at secondary schools in the French-speaking part of Valais. The canton said it believed the calls were false, but the police campaign did not mention that assessment.

Markus Schefer, a professor of constitutional and administrative law at the University of Basel, said warning people before they share material could restrict freedom of expression. He described such preventive action as particularly sensitive, though he said a court might uphold it if authorities could show that calls for school strikes could disrupt school rules.

The canton said freedom of expression was protected but did not extend to calls for violence, riots or disruption of school operations. It said the police campaign was coordinated with the cantonal education department, and schools had been asked to report blockade calls. Schools will decide case by case whether to discuss the issue in class; the canton said no other special measures were planned.