Apparently, this is breaking news and the BBC's site doesn't have many details at this time, but a group of unidentified people have apparently taken over the Spanish Consulate in Bern, the Swiss capital, at around 7:10 local time. The police have sealed off the building and the surrounding area, and some reports say they have taken one or two hostages.
This caught my eye as much for where it's happening as for the fact that it's breaking news. For all the possible/alleged "dodgy dealing" attached to Swiss banks (or, more accurately, their protection of their clients' privacy), it's one of the countries I'd least expect something like this to happen in. I can't remember the last time I read an interesting news story involving Switzerland...
I hope this one doesn't get too "interesting"
(BBC story at present is here)
"A sinister cabal of superior writers."
Article comments
1 - ifrit
It's very strange after 3 hours the news are still very confuse...
2 - dietdoc
According to CNN:
"(CNN) -- A standoff at the Spanish consulate in Bern, Switzerland ended Monday more than three hours after hostage-takers worked their way into the facility, a Spanish Foreign Ministry spokeswoman told CNN."
3 - DrPat
Has anyone heard about their motive?
4 - dietdoc
Apparently, just simple thieves. From AP comes this:
"The assailants told the two consulate workers to open a safe, but they did not have the combination, Spain's Foreign Ministry said. They then ordered the two hostages - a man and a woman who have not been identified - into a separate room.
Neither the workers nor the police knew that the robbers had left the building.
Spain's Foreign Ministry said it has no evidence that anything was stolen from the consulate. The safe, which the assailants tried to open, contained money, passports and visas, said spokesman Angel Vazquez.
''From the outset the assailants were interested in the safe,'' Vazquez said. ''The contents of the safe are secure.''
Swiss and Spanish authorities gave no further information on the identities or nationalities of the attackers."