Switzerland may face more scenes of violence next week following two nights of rioting, according to one of the country’s top sociologists.
Dramatic riots erupted in Lausanne, Switzerland, over the weekend after a migrant teen was killed in a scooter crash while fleeing the police.
Marvin M, a 17-year-old resident of Lausanne, Switzerland, was fleeing police on a stolen scooter when he collided with a garage wall. He passed away despite efforts by emergency services to revive him around 3:45 am on Sunday.
Following this incident, riotous clashes erupted between police and protesters who threw Molotov cocktails, while officials scrambled to control the mounting unrest.
A considerable amount of the outrage stems from perceptions of systemic racism within the Lausanne police force, particularly against migrants. Marvin’s tragic end marks the third fatality connected to police in less than three months in the city, contributing to a total of seven such incidents in the wider Vaud region since 2016. Notably, five of these victims were originally from Africa.
Tensions were further heightened by media reports that four officers faced suspension due to the discovery of racist, sexist, and discriminatory messages in private WhatsApp conversations.
Sandro Cattacin, a sociology professor at the University of Geneva, expressed to the Daily Mail his concerns that Switzerland, typically regarded as a stable country, could witness more violence in upcoming days.
He cautioned that certain pressure groups might exploit the situation to incite further unrest: ‘I suspect we might see more riots next week. There are these additional groups, aligned with more aggressive anti-capitalist ideologies, who perceive this as an opportunity for riots.’
‘If they arrive the weekend, then [the riots] would be more brutal, and from the police it would be more violent.’
A young person walks past fires in a street, in Lausanne, on August 25, 2025
Protesters burn containers during the second night of riots following the fatal accident involving a minor on a scooter in Lausanne, Switzerland, 25 August 2025
Police officers intervene during the second night of riots following the fatal accident involving a minor on a scooter in Lausanne, Switzerland, 25 August 2025
A police officer in riot gear walks past a fire in a street in Lausanne, on August 25, 2025
Cattacin said he had spoken with social worker sources on the ground in Lausanne who had relayed their fears of further violence to him.
He added that the only way to dissipate the anger felt by society was to open a dialogue between the police and marginalised groups
‘The question is now: is the police able to intervene in a careful way, trying to limit damages and trying in every case to begin [a discussion] with this youngsters?’
Many of the roughly 200 people who rioted were young migrants who moved to Switzerland and have felt that police in Lausanne are systemically racist against them.
So far, it seems that powerful people in the city agree with them – Lausanne Mayor Gregoire Junod said following the revelation of the WhatsApp groupchat: ‘There is a systemic discrimination problem that needs to be addressed’.
A ‘cultural change’ is needed to prevent such abuses from happening again, he added.
Cattacin said his fears of further violence also came from Switzerland’s far-right’s response to the violence, condemning migration and urging the police to crack down even harder on protesters, who he accused of fannin the flames.
‘A politician of the extreme right was intervening in the press the [following] day and saying that the police have to be even more aggressive regarding these young people.
‘He said they are not people we want to have in this country, etcetera, etcetera.’
Marvin M, (pictured) a 17-year-old Swiss resident of Lausanne, was fleeing police on a stolen scooter when he hit a garage wall and died at around 3:45am Sunday, despite resuscitation attempts by emergency services
It was the third death in less than three months in Lausanne during a police intervention
A 17-year-old Swiss resident of Lausanne fleeing police on a scooter reported stolen on Saturday, hit a wall and died early Sunday, despite resuscitation attempts by emergency services
Police have acknowledged that a car was following the teenager who died early Sunday. But the Vaud public prosecutors’ office issued a statement ‘with the aim of clarifying and calming the situation’.
It said two motorists approached the teenager before police arrived at the crash site. This tended to confirm there was a ‘significant distance’ between the scooter and the pursuing police vehicle and ‘no contact’ between them, the statement added.
Officers confirmed police had been following Marvin before the crash but claimed he lost control at high speed in a 18mph zone.
Despite claims that the scooter was stolen, his family has denied that he was a thief.
His mum insisted to 24 Heures that he was innocent, while his brother wrote online: ‘You should be with me, at home, in our room, which we’ve always shared.’
The public prosecutor of the canton of Vaud has launched a criminal investigation into the circumstances of the accident.
It was the third death in less than three months in Lausanne during a police intervention. There have been seven such deaths in the city and the wider Vaud region since 2016. Five involved men of African origin.
On Sunday night, ‘around 100 young people, wearing balaclavas’ gathered in the Prélaz neighborhood from 9.30pm, throwing fireworks at police, burning trash cans and damaging a bus belonging to the Lausanne transport company.
Burning containers block the street during the third night of riots in Lausanne, Switzerland, Tuesday August 26, 2025
A person sets a traffic cone on fire as burning containers block the street during the third night of riots in Lausanne, Switzerland, Tuesday August 26, 2025
Fireworks explode near police officers in riot gear in Lausanne, on August 25, 2025
The following night, 150 to 200 people set up roadblocks using trash containers, setting them on fire, police said. Some 140 cops clashed with the rioters, who torched buses and pelted them with stones. Police also responded to the riots using tear gas and rubber bullets.
Over the past decade, Switzerland has taken in more than 200,000 refugees – many from Eritrea, Somalia, Syria and Afghanistan, alongside arrivals from other African and Muslim-majority countries.
What was once hailed as a model of compassion has instead fuelled mounting tensions, with simmering unease now spilling onto the streets.
It comes almost a year after Switzerland announced plans to cap its population to ten million as part of an immigration crackdown under plans put forward by the hard-right People’s Party.
