The World - News from Nov. 18, 1987

Swiss riot police using tear gas, water hoses and rubber bullets stormed barricades of burning tires and furniture to break up an illegal squatters’ camp in the center of Bern, the capital. Officers earlier ringed the so-called “Zaffaraya Free State” with barbed wire after settlers ignored repeated orders to close it for breaching building regulations. Police temporarily detained 20 or so residents and about 100 supporters. The incident, a rarity in Switzerland, came amid signs of growing tension between young people and the authorities and was reminiscent of youth unrest in Zurich in the early 1980s.