Twin blasts in Zurich rattle WEF summit

Reuters Zurich

ACTIVISTS protesting against last week’s World Economic Forum (WEF) annual summit in Davos have claimed responsibility for explosions that broke a window at a Zurich branch of Credit Suisse and blew up the postbox of the boss of commodity trading giant Glencore.

Police confirmed on Friday that attacks had been made on a Credit Suisse branch in the up-market residential area of Hottingen and a postbox in the lakeside suburb of Rueschlikon early on Thursday.

Credit Suisse confirmed a security window of its branch had been shattered. Police said damage caused by an unidentified explosive device amounted to several thousand francs.

A spokesman for the Zurich police said investigations were continuing into who was behind the attacks and what had caused the explosions, while Glencore confirmed that an incident had taken place on the property of chief executive Ivan Glasenberg.

No one was injured.

An unnamed group posted a letter on the indymedia.ch website claiming responsibility. The letter said the group had targeted Credit Suisse over its support of the WEF.

The activists criticised poor working conditions at Glencore and said Credit Suisse was targeted for a host of reasons, including food price speculation, mass job losses and “betting against the Greek people”.

Glencore’s 2011 stock market flotation has led to increased scrutiny by environmental and anti-corruption campaigners over its involvement in mining operations from Zambia to Colombia.