Switzerland Wine Growers Protest, 1961 (b/w photo)

Around 3000 Valais wine growers gathered in the village square of Saillon to protest against the government of the canton of Valais, and a resolution was passed calling for 'the punishment of the instigators, perpetrators and accomplices of the common crimes' and a tombstone with the names of the Valais government members recalled the events of the Second World War. After some Valais wine growers had resisted the decree of the Federal Council to remove the illegally planted vines, the cantonal government took sharp measures against those affected. From a helicopter the vines were sprayed with a poison at night and their immediate death was inevitable.