Switzerland may face more scenes of violence next week following two nights of rioting, according to one of the country’s top sociologists.  

Dramatic riots erupted in Lausanne, Switzerland, over the weekend after a migrant teen was killed in a scooter crash while fleeing the police.

Marvin M, a 17-year-old from Lausanne, Switzerland, passed away after crashing into a garage wall while escaping the police on a stolen scooter. The tragic incident occurred around 3.45 am on Sunday morning, despite emergency crews’ efforts to revive him.

On both Sunday and Monday nights, violent clashes erupted between riot police and protesters, with the latter throwing Molotov cocktails. Authorities struggled to contain the rising tensions.

The unrest stemmed from a widespread belief that the Lausanne police exhibit systemic racism against migrants in the city. Marvin’s tragic accident marked the third fatal interaction with police in Lausanne in under three months, and since 2016, the broader Vaud region has seen seven such deaths. Notably, five of these individuals were originally from Africa.

This anger was only stoked after newspaper reports revealed four officers were suspended following the unearthing of racist, sexist and discriminatory messages in private WhatsApp groups.

But Sandro Cattacin, a professor of sociology at the University of Geneva, told the Daily Mail that he believes Switzerland, ordinarily seen as a beacon of stability on the continent, will see more violence in the coming days. 

Cattacin warned that pressure groups may see the riots as a chance to latch on and cause their own violence: ‘I expect that we will have [riots] again next week. Now you have these other groups, people related to more to more aggressive anti-capitalist positions, who say “OK, that’s the moment we can have riots”. 

‘If they arrive the weekend, then [the riots] would be more brutal, and from the police it would be more violent.’ 

A young person walks past fires in a street, in Lausanne, on August 25, 2025

Protesters burn containers during the second night of riots following the fatal accident involving a minor on a scooter in Lausanne, Switzerland, 25 August 2025

Police officers intervene during the second night of riots following the fatal accident involving a minor on a scooter in Lausanne, Switzerland, 25 August 2025

A police officer in riot gear walks past a fire in a street in Lausanne, on August 25, 2025

Cattacin said he had spoken with social worker sources on the ground in Lausanne who had relayed their fears of further violence to him.

He added that the only way to dissipate the anger felt by society was to open a dialogue between the police and marginalised groups 

‘The question is now: is the police able to intervene in a careful way, trying to limit damages and trying in every case to begin [a discussion] with this youngsters?’

Many of the roughly 200 people who rioted were young migrants who moved to Switzerland and have felt that police in Lausanne are systemically racist against them. 

So far, it seems that powerful people in the city agree with them – Lausanne Mayor Gregoire Junod said following the revelation of the WhatsApp groupchat: ‘There is a systemic discrimination problem that needs to be addressed’.

A ‘cultural change’ is needed to prevent such abuses from happening again, he added. 

Cattacin said his fears of further violence also came from Switzerland’s far-right’s response to the violence, condemning migration and urging the police to crack down even harder on protesters, who he accused of fannin the flames.

‘A politician of the extreme right was intervening in the press the [following] day and saying that the police have to be even more aggressive regarding these young people. 

‘He said they are not people we want to have in this country, etcetera, etcetera.’  

Marvin M, (pictured) a 17-year-old Swiss resident of Lausanne, was fleeing police on a stolen scooter when he hit a garage wall and died at around 3:45am Sunday, despite resuscitation attempts by emergency services

It was the third death in less than three months in Lausanne during a police intervention

A 17-year-old Swiss resident of Lausanne fleeing police on a scooter reported stolen on Saturday, hit a wall and died early Sunday, despite resuscitation attempts by emergency services

Police have acknowledged that a car was following the teenager who died early Sunday. But the Vaud public prosecutors’ office issued a statement ‘with the aim of clarifying and calming the situation’.

It said two motorists approached the teenager before police arrived at the crash site. This tended to confirm there was a ‘significant distance’ between the scooter and the pursuing police vehicle and ‘no contact’ between them, the statement added.

Officers confirmed police had been following Marvin before the crash but claimed he lost control at high speed in a 18mph zone.

Despite claims that the scooter was stolen, his family has denied that he was a thief.

His mum insisted to 24 Heures that he was innocent, while his brother wrote online: ‘You should be with me, at home, in our room, which we’ve always shared.’

The public prosecutor of the canton of Vaud has launched a criminal investigation into the circumstances of the accident.

It was the third death in less than three months in Lausanne during a police intervention. There have been seven such deaths in the city and the wider Vaud region since 2016. Five involved men of African origin. 

On Sunday night, ‘around 100 young people, wearing balaclavas’ gathered in the Prélaz neighborhood from 9.30pm, throwing fireworks at police, burning trash cans and damaging a bus belonging to the Lausanne transport company.

Burning containers block the street during the third night of riots in Lausanne, Switzerland, Tuesday August 26, 2025

A person sets a traffic cone on fire as burning containers block the street during the third night of riots in Lausanne, Switzerland, Tuesday August 26, 2025

Fireworks explode near police officers in riot gear in Lausanne, on August 25, 2025

The following night, 150 to 200 people set up roadblocks using trash containers, setting them on fire, police said. Some 140 cops clashed with the rioters, who torched buses and pelted them with stones. Police also responded to the riots using tear gas and rubber bullets.

Over the past decade, Switzerland has taken in more than 200,000 refugees – many from Eritrea, Somalia, Syria and Afghanistan, alongside arrivals from other African and Muslim-majority countries.

What was once hailed as a model of compassion has instead fuelled mounting tensions, with simmering unease now spilling onto the streets.

It comes almost a year after Switzerland announced plans to cap its population to ten million as part of an immigration crackdown under plans put forward by the hard-right People’s Party.