Protesters demand 'justice' one month after Swiss bar fire

Several hundred demonstrators marched in Switzerland on Saturday to demand “justice and truth” over a New Year’s Day fire at a ski resort bar that killed 40 people and injured 155 others, most of them teenagers and young adults.

The protest took place in Lutry, a suburb of Lausanne, where several of those who died in the 1 January blaze at the Crans-Montana resort were from.

“Tristan would have been 18 in four months’ time, but I am also the mother of 155 other victims,” said Vincianne Stucky, who lost her son, as she held up his photograph. “We will go to the end,” she told the crowd.

She was among family members and friends of those killed who joined the demonstration. Some carried white roses, while others held placards bearing the message: “You are not alone.”

The march began at the stadium of the local football club, which lost seven of its players in the fire. It paused outside a church, where the bells rang for five minutes as many demonstrators laid flowers, before turning back and returning to the stadium.

The fire broke out in the basement dance area of the Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana, which was packed as revellers celebrated the New Year.

Prosecutors believe sparklers attached to champagne bottles ignited acoustic insulation foam on the ceiling.

Smartphone footage showed young people inside the bar continuing to dance, unaware of the danger until it was too late. Witnesses described scenes of panic as the crowd rushed towards the venue’s single exit.

Most of those affected by the fire were Swiss, although a total of 19 nationalities were among the dead and injured.

Why?

A criminal investigation has reportedly been opened into a former official responsible for safety inspections at the bar, making him the third person charged, after the bar’s owners, a French couple.

Local authorities revealed that no annual safety inspection had been carried out at the bar since 2019.

Another bereaved mother who joined the march, Laetitia Brodard-Sitre, told AFP: “I want to know why our children, including my son, were not able to get out. Why?”

“When you go through a tragedy in which 40 people—40 children, 40 teenagers—have died, and another 100 are in rehabilitation or intensive care, there are clearly questions that must be answered,” said Alexandre Fleury, whose child remains in hospital.

He called for an investigation that is “clear and objective, conducted by competent people”.

The organiser of the march, Allegra Petruzzi, told AFP, “All my classmates were in that fire. Most of them died, and some are still in hospital. We have to fight for them too.”