Rave, dance and celebrate entirely without fear

Zürich’s Street Parade is the largest parade in the world. In 2008, more than 800,000 ravers swarmed into the City of Zürich and onto the banks of the River Limmat to be captivated by the unique atmosphere around Lake Zürich. Every year, Protectas SA provides the necessary security measures to ensure that everything goes off without a hitch and that the event is one of peace, freedom, love and tolerance, rather than one of violence and drugs.

Ensuring the security of over 800,000 people with only 300 security staff is a masterpiece in terms of planning, workflow and logistics. Protectas has borne the responsibility for security at the Street Parade for many years. With occasional exceptions, the same people are deployed every year, especially at management level. A well-rehearsed team has therefore developed over the years which is well versed in the risks of such a large-scale event.

The person responsible on behalf of Protectas is Tom V., manager of the ‘Events and Gastro’ section, who has managed security at the Street Parade for 13 years. Remo M. is a member of the board of directors of the Street Parade association and can look back on 15 years of experience with this event. It is really remarkable that there are hardly any incidents worth mentioning in proportion to the huge numbers of people taking part in the event. What’s more, it is not even possible to rehearse the sequence of such a large-scale deployment, as the Street Parade only takes place once a year. ‘It’s like having to do a precision landing with a parachute without an opportunity to practise’, Tom V. describes the nature of the challenge. 

The range of tasks carried out by Protectas during the Street Parade is extremely diverse. The convoy of 30 Lovemobiles, on which dozens of people dance, has to be accompanied and supervised. Protecting the marketing team, location monitoring, regulating access for sponsors, personal accompaniment, night-time security, and of course public order services, all represent additional responsibilities. Protectas also maintains its own deployment centre on location, from which police and ambulance services can be called out if necessary.

Who would have thought that the event would take on such monumental proportions when a procession of just a few hundred people passed through the city centre in 1992? The subject of security did not feature on the agenda in those days. Nowadays, permission to stage the event would not be granted without a full security plan.  It is no longer possible to imagine this sort of event without the current level of security measures.

Protectas staff frequently encounter very interesting situations:

‘For example, we were once asked to accompany twins who were then over 100 years old on the Street Parade’, explains Tom V., ‘that was a very rewarding task, as the ladies would not otherwise have been able to take part in the parade.’

The Street Parade association will continue to rely entirely on the services of Protectas in the future. This is because Protectas not only offers the right type of expertise, but also the right type of security personnel - young people who can identify with the large-scale event, yet have sufficient experience. In years to come, Protectas security staff will continue to ensure that the Street Parade goes off without any hitches. That this is the case can be attributed to 600 planning hours and more than 300 staff who can be deployed if ever - despite the best intentions of peace, freedom, love and tolerance - the worst comes to the worst.


 

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