Police detain 86-year-old spray-painter at Swiss bank

GENEVA – A Swiss pacifist group says an 86-year old woman was briefly detained after she spray-painted “Money for Weapons Kills” in German on a wall at Switzerland’s national bank, as part of a campaign to strip state financing for arms vendors.

Youniss Mussa, political secretary of “The Group for an Army-free Switzerland,” said Louise Schneider was released unharmed Tuesday after the incident in Bern during a demonstration to launch a petition against state involvement in arms dealings.

If the campaign succeeds to garner at least 100,000 signatures over 18 months, Switzerland would hold a referendum on banning state pension funds and the Swiss National Bank from investing in publicly-traded defence contractors selling arms abroad.

The group says such entities have holdings of 4-12 billion Swiss francs ($4-12 billion) in those companies.