So it's end of a week, mostly in the mountains. Have an afternoon of daylight left so I headed to town to look around a bit.

I make my way from Pl. Cornavin toward the lake and see the Jet D'eau. It's a gray afternoon and the waters don't really stand out well against the gray sky. So I'm taking pics and capturing little movies from various angles as I cross the Pont du Mont Blanc.

Just as I leave the Jardin Anglais and am about to descend down into the Quai, someone runs up to me from behind and to my right. I'm listening to my iPod Nano (worn on a little loop around my neck and out of sight inside my jacket) so I don't hear what he said but he seemed to be holding his left wrist with his right hand so I took it as a gesture asking for the time.

I peel back my left sleeve to show him the face of my Casio but he doesn't seem to really look at it to read the display. Then he puts his left arm around my shoulder and then lifts up his left leg across my upper legs (but not really touching other than with the left arm and maybe his right hand).

He seemed to be putting his left foot (I distinctly remember black shoes) in front of my feet as if to say "Look, same shoes" (I was wearing black hiking boots).

Then he pulled his left leg back for a few seconds. Then he tried the maneuver again. I pushed him away with my right arm (while holding my camera in my right hand all this time) either after the first or second time he did this weird maneuver.

But after the second time, I demanded "Que veux-tu" (he was about 20, smiling most of this time, seemed to be of Middle Eastern or North African descent, slightly tanned. Then he looked back and I was that there were 4 more guys, who seemed to be of the same ethnicity. Older, could have been his brothers, definitely harder, stoic expressions than this smiling boy.

The boy peeled off to the right, up towards an elevated walkway over the quai. There was some kind of official vehicle headed towards us and I now believe it was a police car as there is a police outpost (so signed) near where I was stopped by this guy.

So I head forward towards the Jet D'eau but looking back I see the kid is taking looks at me while the 4 guys are following me. So I pull left in one of the little gangways leading to the boats in the pier there and the 4 pass ahead of the spot I turned off but they're stopped.

I keep going forward and get close enough to get the shows of the Jet I want but I'm looking back at them periodically. They don't make eye contact.

Now I head back and then go towards the street. The 4 don't follow. Before the encounter, I'd seen the spire of the Cathedrale de St. Pierre when I crossed the bridge and I had planned to go there after getting close to the Jet.

Then I see that the boy who'd stopped me and one other shadowing my movements, not directly behind but kind of parallel. When I crossed the street, I stopped in the middle before crossing completely. The two also got to the middle of the street but on a different crosswalk, like on the other side of the intersection.

I eyeballed them. Then I crossed the other half of the street and looked back and saw that the two had gone back, towards the Jardin Anglais.

Kept looking back as I headed towards Place du Moulard and eventually Espace St. Pierre. Even came across one guy who looked to be a cop, wearing the letters GPA and talking on the phone.

Probably should have reported them, maybe see if they were still around and took pictures.

Most of this time, I figured they were after my camera. But this was certainly unusual that they were so brazen and obvious about it. Afterwards, as I recount the incident, perhaps they were seeing if I had one of the expensive Swiss watches (which are sold everywhere, often in shop windows showing price tags going well into 5-figures). I definitely looked like a tourist but couldn't have looked to be wearing an expensive watch under an REI jacket and hiking boots.

bizarre!

Hi S,

I'm glad that you weren't harmed.

May I suggest that in future you just start screaming for the police?

For someone who is obviously so meticulous and precise I find this a rather interesting event. I wonder what would have happened if you hadn't been distracted by the IPod.

Is there any reason you felt the need to describe the "origin" and the complexion of this/these person/people?

Seems to me the point is that this happened in Geneva regardless of where the people are from.

Thanks for the reminder, scrb, that it's generally not the locals we need to watch out for while we're traveling around doing touristy things.

<i>Is there any reason you felt the need to describe the &quot;origin&quot; and the complexion of this/these person/people? </i>

Because I'm obviously a raging racist!

Look I was conscious that once I went westward and reached Montreux and certainly by the time I got to Lausanne, there was a lot more ethnic diversity than in the eastern, Germanic parts of the country.

I was also aware of some difficulties that immigrants have had in many Western European countries and some difficulties that they've presented to the native population.

iPod or not, the point of the post was to present the facts of what appears to be an unusual occurrence in Western Europe, i.e. a relatively brazen attempt to accost tourists.

I've read many posts here about pickpockets in Spain and other places where they're not so overt in their attentions. So this experience seemed unique and I was presenting it.

BTW, others have attributed some of these petty crimes to gypsies, not to cast aspersions on a certain ethnic or cultural group so much as present as much info. as possible.

Perhaps she should have left out mention of their gender, too...after all, it's not just GUYS who accost people!

Honestly...........

or age!!
You must just hate 20year olds!

Come come, now, everyone..get off this racist kick...the OP is merely describing the accosters...and if interviewed by the authorities, one of the first questions would be a full description, including color of skin (ranging from albino to black and all colors in between).

Stu T.

Well I think scrb maybe just has a thing against boys who SMILE - a smileaphobe.

BTW, I'm a guy and I'm bigger than the accoster.

Interesting that I was the mark because there were women, including other tourists, around.

Always thought it odd that tourists have to exercise caution in places like Barcelona and yet, there are little old ladies tenuously holding onto their handbags.

Hi Scrb,

&gt;Always thought it odd that tourists have to exercise caution in places like Barcelona and yet, there are little old ladies tenuously holding onto their handbags.&lt;

They attack little old ladies, too.

Hey dukey,

If they fit the profile, in this case 5 young men of color in Geneva, discretion is advised.

In fact, I would be very wary of any group of 5 young men of any race, color, creed or national origin, anywhere - with the possible exception of those wearing police uniforms.

Uniforms can have a negative impact on how people treat others, too.

And FYI, the Jardin d'Anglais is a haven for junkies.

<i>Probably should have reported them, maybe see if they were still around and took pictures.</i>

Yes, take a picture and keep snapping. Gypsies hate this.

I think the point about the iPod is valid. Taking away your sense of hearing is not the smartest move when you in a place you are not familiar with, imo.

What WAS on that Ipod?????

When crimes occur in Switzerland, they are reported in local newspapers with skin colour and origin of the criminals. They even mention if the criminal speaks in &quot;broken German.&quot; Although it's not considered racist to do this, you can't help but notice that most of the criminals are of Balkan or of African origin and you do become suspicious of them.

We've got a lot of problems in schools that have many &quot;Auslander&quot; students of southern origin. The Swiss try not to be racist but inevitably, many people are.

<i>Yes, take a picture and keep snapping. Gypsies hate this. </i>

Really? Or is it just sarcasm?

I don't think they were gypsies.

Auslander is referring to Eastern Europeans?

I believe it was some podcast playing at the time.