Organized from Monday to Wednesday, the summit traditionally brings together the leaders of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and France, host country this year, as well as the European Union. Donald Trump has repeatedly called for including Russia and thus reconstituting the old G8 format. French President Emmanuel Macron also invited the leaders of Brazil, South Korea, India and Kenya to certain meetings to avoid this forum of industrialized powers being perceived as too antagonistic to emerging countries while he intends, according to the Élysée, tackle global economic imbalances.
After meeting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday in Nice, Emmanuel Macron is expected in the evening in Evian, where American President Donald Trump is due to arrive on Monday.
A reinforced security system
The Swiss authorities, who authorized the march in Geneva, will engage a large force of law enforcement to contain any overflow and avoid a repeat of the fiasco of 2003. Violent groups then provoked riots, looting and clashes with the police in Geneva and Lausanne, causing millions of francs in damage. A sign of a trauma still very present in the minds of Geneva, many traders barricaded themselves this week and plaques of chipboard adorn many windows in the lakeside city, including in neighborhoods far from the route of the demonstration. Many sporting events and competitions have been canceled and the University Hospitals of Geneva (HUG) have even taken exceptional measures to deal with a possible influx of injured people, including tents set up on Friday in front of the entrance to the enclosure.
Many traders barricaded themselves this week and plaques of chipboard adorn many windows in the lakeside city, including in neighborhoods far from the route of the demonstration. FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP
“We hope to have a beautiful weekend with beautiful moments,” Alice Lefranois, spokesperson for the coalition, tried to calm down in front of the press. “There will be a security service, in particular to protect demonstrators from any form of external aggression, and then there will be a family area […]. We think it’s going to be a pretty nice moment,” she added.
Closure of 25 crossing points
In 2003, tens of thousands of activists met in the region, but this time the French alter-globalization activists gave up on a planned counter-summit and a demonstration on Sunday in the border town of Annemasse, cooled by the drastic organizational conditions imposed by the authorities. A rigidity regretted by Swiss activists, who will host an anti-globalization “counter-summit” in association buildings in Geneva. “What we fundamentally regret is that France did not create the favorable conditions for a sort of summit, counter-summit, village, forum, discussion” on its side of the border, Carole-Anne Kast, Geneva Minister of Security, told the press this week.
