World Economic Forum

===Physical protests===
[[File:Demo-gegen-wef.jpg|thumb|Protest march against the WEF in [[Basel]], 2006]]

During the late 1990s, the WEF, as well as the [[G7]], [[World Bank]], [[World Trade Organization]], and [[International Monetary Fund]], came under heavy criticism by [[anti-globalization]] activists who claimed that capitalism and globalization were increasing poverty and destroying the environment. In 2000, about 10,000 demonstrators [[S11 (protest)|disrupted a regional WEF meeting]] in [[Melbourne]], by obstructing the path of 200 delegates.<ref>Barret, Bernard (15 November 2000). [http://www.australianpolitics.com/pg/groups/barrett-s11-report-2000.shtml "Beating Up – A Report on Police Batons and the News Media at the World Economic Forum, Melbourne, September 2000"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110926220221/http://www.australianpolitics.com/pg/groups/barrett-s11-report-2000.shtml |date=26 September 2011}}. ''[Australian Politics]''. Retrieved 24 August 2011.</ref> Small demonstrations are held in Davos on most but not all years, organised by the local Green Party (see [[Anti-WEF protests in Switzerland, January 2003]]) to protest against what have been called the meetings of "fat cats in the snow", a [[tongue-in-cheek]] term used by rock singer [[Bono]].<ref>Noon, Chris (21 January 2006). [https://www.forbes.com/facesinthenews/2006/01/26/bono-davos-red-cx_cn_0126autofacescan02.html "Bono Teams Up With Amex, Gap For Product Red"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080908033533/http://www.forbes.com/facesinthenews/2006/01/26/bono-davos-red-cx_cn_0126autofacescan02.html |date=8 September 2008}}. ''[[Forbes]]''. Retrieved 25 January 2011.</ref>

After 2014, the physical protest movement against the World Economic Forum largely died down, and [[Swiss police]] noted a significant decline in attending protesters, 20 at most during the meeting in 2016. While protesters are still more numerous in large Swiss cities, the protest movement itself has undergone significant change.<ref>C. Thumshirn (2017). [http://www.nzz.ch/wirtschaft/wef-2017/protest-im-wandel-das-wef-ohne-gegner-ld.139155 Warum das WEF keine Demonstranten mehr anlockt] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170117152100/http://www.nzz.ch/wirtschaft/wef-2017/protest-im-wandel-das-wef-ohne-gegner-ld.139155 |date=17 January 2017 }}(in German). Neue Zürcher Zeitung. Retrieved 17 January 2017.</ref> Around 150 [[Tibetan people|Tibetans]] and [[Uyghurs|Uighurs]] protested in [[Geneva]] and 400 Tibetans in [[Bern]] against the visit of China's [[paramount leader]] [[Xi Jinping]] for the 2017 meeting, with subsequent confrontations and arrests.<ref>[http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/xi-s-visit_tibetans-and-uighurs-protest-in-geneva/42860126 Tibetans and Uighurs protest in Geneva] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170120115050/http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/xi-s-visit_tibetans-and-uighurs-protest-in-geneva/42860126 |date=20 January 2017 }}. SWI swissinfo.ch (Politics-Conflict). Retrieved 22 January 2017.</ref>