Blast at hotel used by leaders at World Economic Forum

A SMALL blast shattered two windows but caused no injuries at a hotel used by top business and political leaders attending the World Economic Forum, Swiss police said yesterday.

The incident occurred on the day French President Nicolas Sarkozy, British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and former US president Bill Clinton were due to take the stage at the annual gathering in the Swiss Alpine town of Davos.

Forum organisers said in a statement the explosion was caused by a firework.

An anonymous posting on the website indymedia.ch claimed responsibility for the attack on the Morosani Posthotel, saying it was directed at Swiss government officials and senior executives of Swiss bank UBS staying at the hotel. Its authenticity couldn’t immediately be confirmed.

The Swiss federal prosecutors’ office said it is investigating the incident but gave no further information “for tactical reasons”.

The explosion happened in a hotel storage room shortly after 9am local time yesterday, regional police spokesman Thomas Hobi told AP. The hotel did not comment.

The anonymous claim of responsibility said “two pyrotechnical devices and sugar” were used to cause the blast.

The hotel is about 2km from the main venue of the annual gathering in the Alpine ski resort.

There was little disruption to the hotel and its activities, beyond an increased security presence at the hotel’s entrance.

Guests, journalists and others filed through a security scanner that was installed before the incident.

A Forum-related lunch focusing on organised crime, called Criminals Without Borders went on as scheduled at the hotel at noon, with speakers including Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and Robert Wainwright, the director of Europol.

Left-wing groups plan to hold a protest this weekend. A protest flyer read: “Let us fight together against the unbearable propaganda of capitalism.”