On Facebook various users have mocked the photo of the school class. The reason is because of the 18 students, there is only one boy with a “real Swiss name and appearance” they say. All children are clearly recognizable and their names appear written in full underneath the pupil’s mugshot.
An outraged reader reporter the photo on Thursday: “I’m absolutely horrified that innocent children must be used for right-wing views and receive comments that border on racist.” She has deleted all the people who shared the post immediately and never want to have anything to do with these people again. “I hope that there is a possibility that the children or the school can take legal action against these persons,” said the reader.
The Swiss news outlet 20 Minuten discovered that the pictures were part of an internal school document. The city of Zurich has already been informed about the activities on Facebook: “This totally unreliable Facebook post has affected us very much,” says Marc Caprez, the Head of Communication School and Sport Department of the City of Zurich. The children are entitled to privacy and above all to statutory privacy protection.
Rafael Rotzer of the anti-immigrant party Pnos posted the picture on Facebook. “We have asked Raphael Rotzer to remove the post within 24 hours and are considering legal action,” says Caprez.
In the meantime, Rotzer has deleted the photo. “It was not my intention to discriminate against the children in the picture, but to show what schools in our country look like,” he wrote on Facebook.
Pnos spokesman Dominic Lüthard responded: “With the post one simply wanted to point out and question the development of society.” The children should not be condemned either. “It does not mean that everyone is criminal,” says Lüthard.