Blanar's Debate with Swiss Students Cancelled Due to Pro-Palestinian Protests

Bern/Fribourg, November 20 (TASR-correspondent) - A planned discussion at the University of Fribourg between Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis, Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar and students was cancelled by the Swiss Foreign Ministry on Tuesday due to announced pro-Palestinian demonstrations, according to a TASR correspondent. The Neue Zurcher Zeitung daily has reported that the demonstrators were from the Coordination of Students for Palestine (Coordination étudiante pour la Palestine) movement, which is active at universities in the French-speaking areas of Switzerland and is calling for an academic boycott of Israeli institutions. The movement publicly called on its supporters to disrupt the event with Cassis and Blanar to express their dissatisfaction with what they see as the Swiss foreign minister's overly pro-Israeli policies. In response, the Swiss Foreign Ministry decided to cancel the event, stating that it didn't consider it appropriate to expose the Slovak guest to unpleasantness, while referring to security risks. As a result, Blanar and Cassis held bilateral talks in Bern instead of the planned joint meeting in Fribourg. While in Bern, the Slovak minister also met Eric Nussbaumer, head of the lower chamber of the Swiss parliament. On Wednesday, Blanar will travel to neighbouring Liechtenstein. lin/df/zel