Youth riots in Switzerland

Opernhauskrawalle (Opera House riots) is the Swiss German term generally used for the youth protests at the end of May 1980 in the Swiss city of Zürich, a municipality in the Canton of Zürich. Also called Züri brännt ("Zürich is burning"), these events marked the 'rebirth' of the alternative youth movement in Switzerland in the 1980s. thumb|upright|Burning of the so-called Böögg on occasion of [[Sechseläuten in 2013, not the youth protests but the same site at Sechseläutenplatz.]]

== Background == A three-day celebration of the Zürich Opernhaus and the opening of a festival was celebrated on 30 May 1980. Uninvited, about 200 protesters crashed the festival opening and demanded an autonomous youth center. The communal Stadtpolizei Zürich and state Kantonspolizei Zürich police corps were informed beforehand and were stationed in the foyer of the opera house as a precautionary measure. As the youths occupied the exterior stairs of the opera house, the demonstration degenerated into a street battle between demonstrators and the police, who were equipped with water cannons, tear gas, and rubber bullets. The youth protests culminated on 30/31 May 1980, at the present Sechseläutenplatz square in Zürich, but later spread throughout the whole city. A public referendum also contributed to the riots, as the city of Zurich planned to grant CHF 61 million for a renovation and an extension of the opera house, but nothing for the planned Rote Fabrik cultural center in Zürich-Wollishofen, on the other side of the Zürichsee lakeshore.