Demonstrations renew scrutiny of billionaire wealth and influence ahead of World Economic Forum.

On Tuesday, thousands of European citizens gathered in Zurich, Switzerland, to protest the presence of U.S. President Donald Trump, who is set to take part in the World Economic Forum being held in Davos.

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“Police responded with water cannons, tear gas and rubber bullets to suppress demonstrators protesting in the Swiss city. Donald Trump is expected to land in the Alpine country between Tuesday and Wednesday,” Euronews reported.

“Protesters from environmental and left-wing organizations, who gathered around 6:30 p.m. at Bürkliplatz, demonstrated against what they described as a ‘Meeting of Oligarchs’ and chanted slogans such as ‘Trump is Not Welcome’,” it added.

Protests against Trump and his actions had already begun Sunday in Davos, where European citizens rejected his stance on Greenland and the concentration of wealth in the hands of global elites.

In connection with the 2026 Davos forum, the organization Oxfam Intermon published a report showing that the world’s billionaires have increased their combined wealth by 81% since 2020.

The super rich have also gained growing political and media power, allowing them to shape the rules governing the economy and society to their own benefit.

The report notes that in 2025 there were 3,000 individuals with fortunes exceeding US$1 billion, and that their combined wealth increased by US$2.5 trillion over the past year — a figure that nearly equals the wealth held by the poorest half of the planet, made up of 4.1 billion people.

The increase in wealth among these magnates is not accidental, the report says, but accelerated with the rise to power in the United States of President Donald Trump, who cut taxes for the super-rich, blocked international tax pressure on major corporations and limited efforts to curb the power of monopolies.

This simultaneous concentration of wealth and political power in the same hands “is no longer invisible: it is happening with total impunity, before our eyes and live,” said Oxfam Intermon Director Franc Cortada.

The super-rich are gaining increasing control over media outlets and social networks “without the vast majority of governments having managed to put a stop to it,” Cortada said, noting that such dynamic has direct consequences for the health of democracies.

“Billionaires are devoting their wealth and power to shaping public opinion, influencing public debate and even altering the political course. They don’t just buy yachts — they buy democracies as well, fueling hate speech and political polarization,” the OXFAM Intermon director said.

teleSUR/ JF

Source: EFE – Oxfam

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