“Glory to Ukraine”: yellow and blue tide against the war in Europe and in the world

Anti-war rally in Ukraine Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, February 27.

AP - Michael Sohn

Text by: RFI Follow

8 mins

“ 

From Berlin to Prague, via Madrid and Tel Aviv, hundreds of thousands of people in the yellow and blue colors of Ukraine marched on Sunday February 27 in Europe and beyond to denounce the Russian invasion and express their fear. of an extension of the conflict.

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• One hundred thousand people in Berlin

Faced with the approaching armed conflict, the Germans are in shock.

This Sunday, February 27, a dense crowd gathered in front of the Brandenburg Gate and in front of the Russian Embassy in Berlin: 100,000 people according to the police, 500,000 according to the organizers.

Our correspondent,

, went there.

“ 

 ”, “ 

 ”, “ 

 ”.

The crowd screamed their anger, she found.

Slightly to the side, Nikita, 28, holds up a sign calling for an end to arms deliveries to Ukraine.

In my opinion guns kill on both sides.

My grandmother lives in Ukraine.

Her brother lives in Russia.

How do weapons help get things done?

Kristian, 45, rolls his eyes.

I am Latvian and German.

I am very happy with what Chancellor Scholz

today.

He should even have announced much earlier that he is going to deliver arms to Ukraine.

We all have to protect ourselves.

This guy (Putin, editor's note) is completely crazy

 !

Martyn and Petro, two Ukrainians, lost their voices from shouting their anger under the hermetically sealed windows of the embassy.

Computer scientists living in Berlin for 10 and 14 years, they want to believe in the victory of the Ukrainian army.

On their sign, the last words of their heroes, Ukrainian soldiers who launched " 

 " before dying on the island they occupied, fallen to the enemy.

• In France, gatherings too

Demonstrators in the yellow and blue colors of the Ukrainian flag again showed their support for this country attacked by Russia on Sunday and said " 

".

In Paris, after several thousand the day before, a few hundred people still gathered, mostly Ukrainians.

Some 2,000 people also gathered at Place Bellecour in Lyon.

Citizens, elected officials, activists or members of the diaspora.

In Toulouse, more than 1,500 people gathered on the Place du Capitole, where a sign read: “

 ”, referring to a colloquial expression from the South.

At the capitol, @odile 31 presents with @Caroline_Onvo for the @GroupeAMC in support of the Ukrainian people victim of the invasion of #Putin

We do not forget that #Kiev has long been twinned with Toulouse and wish that our city be at the height of the stake pic.twitter.com/rhJoNDbVLI

— Odile MAURIN (@odile31) February 27, 2022

• In Athens, hundreds of people

In Athens, several hundred people gathered in the square of the Greek Parliament to show their hostility to the war in Ukraine and to the policy of Vladimir Putin, also noted our correspondent on the spot,

.

Amid the Ukrainian flags, the main slogans called for an end to the conflict, while others attacked the Russian president by name, comparing him to Hitler and calling him an assassin.

The Greek flag on the shoulders of Athanasios Psomas, in his sixties, clashes amid the Ukrainian flags that invaded the central square of Athens.

I want to unite my voice with that of all the people here, against Putin and in favor of the heroic people of Ukraine, who are fighting alone against all

Anti-war in Ukraine and anti-Putin protesters in Athens on February 26.

AP - Yorgos Karahalis

Originally from Georgia, Anna Papakanelou married a Greek and has lived here for 30 years.

Present out of solidarity, she still trembles at the memory of the 2008 war with Russia.

In 2008, I lived the Russian invasion in Georgia in my flesh, deep down.

I know very well what a war means, what dead children mean, orphans, mothers who bury their children, what means the loss of a husband, a brother or a loved one.

This must not happen again!

Armed with a " 

 " sign, Natalia burst into tears.

She comes from Ternopil, in western Ukraine.

We want the whole world to hear us and stop this.

We have parents, children who are there and we cannot take them out or help them.

This war is not only bad for us Ukrainians, but for the whole world

• In Rome, same fight for Ukraine

The Ukrainian community in Italy is one of the largest in the countries of the European Union: 248,000 Ukrainians, 80% of whom are women, live and work there.

In recent days, several demonstrations of support have taken place from north to south of the peninsula.

This Sunday, Ukrainians residing in Rome gathered in Piazza della Repubblica, reports our correspondent in Italy,

.

They asked for more means, as soon as possible, to stop the Russian offensive.

Under a biting wind, at the dawn of the Roman spring, blue and yellow flags mingled with banners and placards proclaiming " 

 " or, again, " 

 ".

Eyes filled with tears, Oxane, 55, says she is ready to return to Ukraine to defend her country.

My daughters and my grandchildren live near Kyiv, I am heartbroken because we are here to work and they are there.

The war is terrible, but if necessary, I will go to Kiev to fight

For his part, Oleg, 28, from Lviv, would like Westerners to be able to intervene militarily: “ 

 »

As for Mariya, 30, born in Odessa, she makes this poignant appeal:

Wake up because we, for the moment, are like a shield for Europe.

But we need everything.

Now !

Then it will be too late

Among the Ukrainian community in Rome, no one dares to imagine a favorable outcome of the

between Moscow and Kiev.

• In Israel, protesters against Putin

Thousands of demonstrators in Tel Aviv and in the port city of Haifa gave their support to Ukraine on Saturday, indicates our correspondent in Jerusalem,

, who recalls that out of 9 million inhabitants in Israel, one million are immigrants from the former USSR.

In tears, demonstrators of Ukrainian origin did not hide their concern.

Many still have family in the mother country.

“

”.

Slogans for democratic Ukraine as well.

And several times the Ukrainian national anthem was sung.

There were also Russians who came to directly express their disagreement with the policy of their president.

The demonstrators also protested against the Israeli government's wavering position in this conflict.

The Russian invasion was condemned only half-heartedly to preserve Israeli interests, particularly in the Syrian skies.

• Elsewhere in Europe and in the world

The famous Wenceslas Square in the heart of the Czech capital was crowded this Sunday.

A symbolic place, because it was there that the confrontation with Russian tanks took place in 1968 during the Prague Spring.

Nearly 10,000 people took part in a demonstration in support of Ukraine in front of the Russian Embassy in Copenhagen.

“ 

 ”, launched the head of government Mette Frederiksen.

In Vilnius, Lithuania, hundreds of demonstrators marched shouting “ 

 ”.

" 

 ," Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who lives in exile in Lithuania, told reporters.

Demonstrations also took place in Amsterdam, Barcelona, ​​Bilbao, Podgorica, but also in Ecuador, where a small group of protesters held up “ 

 ” signs in front of the Russian Embassy.

Even in Iraq, a few dozen Ukrainian expatriates gathered this Sunday in front of a UN building in Erbil, Kurdistan.

• In Russia, 2,000 arrests are mentioned

In Russia, finally, a few thousand people once again defied the ban on demonstrations to say “ 

 ”.

The rallies have reportedly led to more than 2,000 arrests, according to an NGO.

In Saint Petersburg, the country's second largest city, around 400 people gathered in a central square to express their opposition to the invasion of Ukraine.

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