SWI swissinfo.ch: Swiss army takes measures against right-wing extremism

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Extremism
Swiss army takes measures against right-wing extremism

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This content was published on April 23, 2018 5:00 PM Apr 23, 2018 - 17:00
soldiers with rifles

Men aged 18 and over are conscripted for compulsory military service in Switzerland; women may volunteer.
(Keystone)

The Swiss army has disarmed or suspended a handful of its members linked to right-wing extremism. In total, the army checked on 49 people last year.

In 2017, the Swiss army followed up on 42 reports in connection with right-wing extremism. Nine people required precautionary measures such as a security check, suspension or the turning in of their weapons.

The figures are somewhat higher than the average of the past five years. About two thirds of the extremism reports last year had to do with right-wing extremism, announced the Defence Ministryexternal link on Monday. In total there were 21 such reports.

+ A year ago, a photo of Swiss soldiers saluting a swastika stirred controversy

There were eight reports of jihad-motivated extremism, about half as many as in the previous year. Ten had to do with non-violent extremism, and another three were regarding ethno-nationalist extremism.

Conscripts may be excluded from the Swiss army if they are considered to be at risk for violence. The screenings are carried out by the specialised military service “Extremism in the Army”.

SDA/ATS, swissinfo.ch, sm
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"Lynx commented on the content at 24 April 2018 10:06".
Lynx Lynx 24-Apr-2018 10:06
My tax money has been spent on training the army, so rather than kick out the undesirables, why not send them to conflict zones around the world, but never let them return home. OR, if any of them are Become-CH, rather than Born-CH, take their citizenship away and send them back to wherever they (or their family) came from. CH is a relatively peaceful country. Let's keep it this way.
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 "Ausländer replied to the comment of Lynx at 24 April 2018 23:40."
Ausländer 24-Apr-2018 23:40
The world need more people like you Lynx..
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