Swiss far-right campaigns against immigrant laws

Geneva: Their campaign posters have included three white sheep kicking out a black sheep and a swarm of brown hands grabbing Swiss passports from a box.

Now, Switzerland's nationalists are riding a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment across Europe to push for a crackdown on granting citizenship to foreigners.

The Swiss People's Party's initiative, which is being put to a referendum today, follows the launch of a signature-collection bid last year to kick out whole families of foreigners if one of their children breaks a law. A vote on that initiative is still pending.

"Stop mass naturalisations," says the poster by the Swiss People's Party which revives the imagery of brown hands clutching passports that helped the party succeed in a similar campaign to curb naturalisations in 2004.

Maria Lazarte, a 27-year-old communications officer from Peru who intends to apply for Swiss citizenship, said the campaign posters were xenophobic.

"It's horrible. It makes you feel like you're not wanted here," she said.

The campaign urges support for its proposal to overturn a Supreme Court ruling that barred the widely denounced practice of some Swiss communities that subjected citizenship applications to a popular vote.

The party's campaign mirrors anti-immigrant developments in Italy, Belgium and other European countries.

Italy's Cabinet last week discussed an anti-immigration package that includes measures to make it easier for authorities to expel foreigners and allow authorities to seal off houses rented to illegal immigrants. The government's plans have drawn criticism in Italy and all over Europe.

Criticism

Belgium was criticised Wednesday by the European Parliament for what it called appalling and unacceptable conditions in asylum centres, where illegal immigrants are locked up for months.

EU officials have been discussing measures to safeguard the borders of the bloc's passport-free zone and prevent people from entering illegally or overstaying their visas.

Non-EU Switzerland is somewhat protected from illegal immigrants because it is surrounded by the 27-nation bloc, but with 20 per cent it still has one of the highest percentages of foreigners on the continent.