Thousands of people demonstrated on Saturday in London, Paris, Rome and Zurich to call for an end to the war in Ukraine, AFP journalists present in those European cities found.
“We will be here every weekend, in Paris or anywhere else, until Putin leaves, withdraws his tanks,” Aline Le Bail-Kremer, a member of Stand With Ukraine, one of the organizations behind the campaign, told AFP. concentration in the French capital.
According to a police source, by this Saturday rallies in support of Ukraine had been organized in more than a hundred cities in France, which could bring together some 25,000 protesters in total.
In London, the capital of the United Kingdom, hundreds of people also demonstrated to demand an end to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and pray for peace.
The protesters gathered in the central square of Trafalgar Square with flags and banners that read phrases such as “Putin kills” and “Embargo on Russia”
Similar posters could be seen in the center of Rome, the Italian capital, where several unions and NGOs organized a “demonstration for peace”.
“This is perhaps one of the first real demonstrations for peace. Nobody here believes that peace is made with weapons, sending weapons to one of the parties,” Italian cartoonist, actor and writer Vauro Senesi told AFP, surrounded by thousands of people.
In Zurich, the most populous city in Switzerland, about 40,000 people called for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine, according to ATS, the local news agency.
The demonstration, littered with Ukrainian flags, was called by some unions and leftist parties.
Organizers expected about 20,000 people, but estimate there were more than 40,000, according to ATS. Police figures are not yet known.
Like last week, demonstrations were called in several cities in the country.
Since the Russian offensive in Ukraine began on February 24, anti-war demonstrations have multiplied around the world.
Last weekend, hundreds of thousands of people dressed in yellow and blue marched across Europe: a few thousand in Russia, at least 100,000 in Berlin, 70,000 in Prague and 40,000 in Madrid.
