“Russia out, down with Putin!”: Global demonstrations of solidarity with Ukraine
ROME, ITALY – Ukraine-friendly protests erupted on Saturday around the world as thousands of people took to the streets from London to New York and Tehran to condemn Russia’s attack on its neighbor.
The Moscow attack has sparked a global uproar and punished the West with sanctions, some of which have been directed against Russian President Vladimir Putin himself.
On Saturday, demonstrations were held in cities around the world to join the condemning choir and call for an end to the bloodshed.
In Switzerland, thousands of people gathered across the country, including about 1,000 outside the UN headquarters in Geneva.
The protesters, dressed in the national colors of Ukraine, blue and yellow, gathered in the “Broken Chair” – a large sculpture symbolizing civilians of war.
The protesters are calling for tougher action from the government, which has so far avoided imposing austerity measures and instead decided to stay closer to its traditional “neutral” stance.
The Swiss Russians joined in to show their opposition to the war by holding signs that read “I am Russian.”
More than 3,000 people gathered in the French city of Strasbourg, home to the Council of Europe’s human rights organization, and carried signs calling Putin a killer and urging him to stop fighting.
“Putin and all his clicks will have to pay the price for this attack and go to international law,” said Borys Tarasyuk, Ukraine’s Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe.
In France, demonstrations were held in Paris, Montpellier and Marseille.
In Russia’s neighborhood in Finland, thousands of people gathered in the capital, Helsinki, to shout “Russia out, down with Putin!”
About 3,000 people gathered in Vienna, and the homemade signs contained slogans such as “Stop the War” and speeches by the Austrian Ukrainian community.
More than 1,000 protesters responded to a call from trade unions and NGOs in the center of Rome, curled up on a podium with the word “Against War.”
“impotency”
Thousands of people had taken part in a torch-lit procession to the Colosseum, one of the most important landmarks in the Italian capital, on Friday night.
Putin was the main target of the march when banners caricatured him as an assassin with blood-stained hands and compared him to the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler with the words, “Do you recognize when history repeats itself?”
“We have always been close to the Ukrainians,” Maria Sergi, a 40-year-old Russian-born Italian, told AFP. – Our feeling of powerlessness is huge.
About a thousand anti-war protesters took part in the protests in Barcelona on Saturday, local police said.
Dimitri, a Russian designer living in Barcelona, said he feared sanctions would slow Russia’s development.
“We’re all going to suffer,” the 37-year-old told AFP.
In Britain, hundreds of protesters headed to the Russian embassy in London, and some corrupted a street sign called “St. Petersburgh Place” opposite the embassy.
An AFP correspondent saw about 50 people assembled in Tehran by the Kiev embassy in Iran, some holding candles and Ukrainian flags and singing against the war and Putin.
Demonstrations were also held over the weekend in Israel, Estonia, India, Tokyo and New York.
“Ukraine is bleeding”
In Georgia, nearly 30,000 people visited the streets of Tbilisi on Friday night, waving flags of Ukraine and Georgia and singing the national anthems of both countries.
Russia ‘s attack on Ukraine resonated strongly in Georgia, a former Soviet republic that suffered a devastating Russian attack in 2008.
– We feel sympathy for the Ukrainians, perhaps more than for other countries, because we have experienced the barbaric aggression of Russia on our soil, 32-year-old taxi driver Niko Tvauri told AFP.
Teacher Meri Tordia added: “Ukraine is bleeding, the world is watching and talking about sanctions that will not stop Putin.”
More than 2,000 protesters gathered in front of the Russian embassy in the Greek capital, Athens, on Friday night, following a petition by the traditionally pro-Russian Communist and left-wing Syriza parties, followed by more protests on Saturday.
‘Antagonize’
The shock waves caused by the attack on Moscow’s neighbor have resonated outside Europe.
In Argentina, Ukrainians and Argentines of Ukrainian descent were among the nearly 2,000 people who landed at the Russian embassy in Buenos Aires on Friday.
They sang “Glory to Ukraine, Glory to its Heroes” as well as the national anthems of Argentina and Ukraine.
Among the audience was Tetiana Abramchenko, who moved to Argentina with her daughter in 2014 after Russia annexed Ukraine to the Crimean peninsula.
“My overwhelming feeling is anger,” the 40-year-old told AFP as she repelled the tears. “The last thing I imagined was the Russians coming to kill my people.”
In Canada, dozens of protesters sacrificed a blizzard in Montreal to protest in front of the Russian consulate on Friday afternoon.
“I am against this war. I hope this is the beginning of the end of this regime,” said Russian Elena Lelievre, a 37-year-old engineer.