Swiss millionaires accused of racism for refusing to accept migrants

Located 16 kilometers from Zurich, the Swiss village of Oberville-Lieli, as if painted on a colorful postcard, is home to more than 2,000 people, 300 of whom are millionaires. The Swiss government insisted that 26 cantons place migrants on their territory under a special quota — a total of about 50 thousand people across the country.

But the extremely well-off Swiss from Oberville-Lieli in May 2016 organized a referendum in which the villagers voted not to accept migrants. Instead, they agreed to pay 262 thousand euros. The decision was made because of the fears of local women that if migrants are placed in the village, incidents of sexual violence like what happened in Cologne on New Year's Eve may repeat, and in general it will spoil the usual way of life. However, this step escalated the passions: some villagers said they were extremely embarrassed and called the referendum "racist".

The wealthiest residents of Oberwillieli even offered to personally pay the fine imposed by the Swiss authorities for refusing to accept refugees.

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Source: dailymail.co.uk

The image of the village of Auberville-Lieli, surrounded by lush green pastures with stunning snow caps of mountains in the distance, could well decorate a box of chocolates. Alpine—style chalets and modern houses with huge panoramic windows make ancient one of the most attractive — and most expensive - places to live in Switzerland.

The roads are innocently clean, the gardens are beautiful and immaculately maintained, and despite the fact that Zurich, one of the largest cities in Switzerland, is only 10 miles away, there is very little traffic.

Add the extremely low crime rate, and you will understand why the cost of houses in Auberville-Lieli starts at 1.3 million euros.

In general, it is not surprising that the residents of this idyllic village voted against settling migrants.

On May 1, residents held a referendum on the issue of refugee accommodation — for the first time in Europe. This led to a division of public opinion and a test of many friendly ties for strength: many human rights organizations, such as Human Rights Watch, were simply stunned and called the results of the vote racist.

Although Switzerland is not part of the EU, its government has decided to participate in the resettlement of migrant families fleeing war and chaos in their countries. Earlier, Switzerland announced that it would accept about 3,000 Syrians.

Notable incidents of migrants attacking women that occurred in Cologne and other German cities on New Year's Eve were also important factors that influenced the results of the vote.

In an interview with Mail Online, the mayor of Auberville-Lieli, Mr. Glarner, said that he did not consider the refusal to accept migrants in the village to be racism.

However, not all residents agree with him and with the results of the referendum. Patricia, a mother of two, is confused and disappointed by what she calls "racism."