DAVOS, Switzerland — Thousands of Swiss soldiers and police have been shoveling snow to erect a “ring of steel” against unwelcome demonstrators hoping to gate-crash the annual meeting of political and economic elites in the Swiss Alps.
Some 3,500 soldiers are on hand to provide security to the VIPs — including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron — who will descend on the Alpine ski resort in the coming days for the World Economic Forum.
Swiss army spokesman Stefan Hofer said Tuesday that heavy snowfall over the past two weeks made putting up 11 miles of security barriers around the heart of Davos an arduous task.
“The fences need to be anchored into the ground, and we also need to keep them from being pushed over by the weight of the snow,” Hofer told The Associated Press. “We’ve had to do a lot of shoveling.”
Davos saw 16 inches of fresh snow overnight, with roadside mounds already reaching heights of more than 8 feet. The Associated Press
