A/HRC/4/19/Add.2 page 16 testimonies from members of the communities and to verify the information provided by Swiss and foreign institutions concerning the situation of racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia in Switzerland. 52. During his meetings, the Special Rapporteur collected several testimonies concerning racist and xenophobic acts on the part of the population, particularly on the part of State bodies, such as the police.25 The information submitted indicated the following: • A feeling of great anxiety in the black community in Switzerland owing to, on the one hand, the general rise in discrimination and, on the other, serious and recurrent acts - particularly by the police - of racism against blacks, although there are only 37,000 black persons - or 0.5 per cent of the population - in Switzerland; • The high number of racial profiling incidents targeting certain groups of foreigners, particularly blacks; • A feeling of growing Islamophobia in Swiss society, according to most of the Muslim community representatives with whom the Special Rapporteur met; • The existence of old and new forms of anti-Semitism in Switzerland, according to the Jewish community leaders with whom the Special Rapporteur met; • The existence of discriminatory practices in stations and airports, particularly Zurich airport, including racial profiling, physical violence and verbal abuse, as well as violent expulsions of persons tied to wheelchairs, with helmets and diapers; • The negative trend in Swiss domestic legislation towards restricting the rights of and reducing protection for, foreigners, or criminalizing foreigners; • The toughening of social relations and the rise of racist and xenophobic discourse by political parties; • The general increase of acts and manifestations of racial discrimination26 felt by members of all foreign communities and national minorities; 25 Many reports by Swiss and international NGOs on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance in Switzerland are available. These include the 2005 report of Amnesty International, Switzerland (http://web.amnesty.org/report2005/ che-summary-fra); the 2004 report of Observatoire du racisme, Association contre le racisme (ACOR), SOS Racisme, 30 pp.; Ramdane Babadji, Lutte contre le racisme: où va la Suisse?, Association mondiale pour l’École, instrument de paix (EIP), 2005. 26 See, inter alia, Carrefour de réflexion et d’action anti-noir (CRAN), Actualité du racisme anti-noir en Suisse, Rapport annuel 2002-2003, and Association contre le racisme (ACOR) SOS Racisme, Rapport d’observation du racisme 2004 et Tableau des situations concernant la police genevoise suivies par ACOR SOS Racisme depuis 2002, August 2005.