"Save Ukraine", "Putin assassin"... More than 40,000 demonstrators, according to the Ministry of the Interior, marched on Saturday March 5 in France to denounce the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and say " No to war in Europe".
On the tenth day of the offensive ordered by the Russian president, there were 16,000, according to the police headquarters, in Paris, between Place de la République and Place de la Bastille, chanting "Putin, your war is does not want" in the middle of yellow and blue flags.
"Despite the suffering, we are going to win, we are sure of it," said Nataliya, a Franco-Ukrainian, who did not wish to give her name to protect her son who remained in her country.
"We are proud of their courage, their determination."
Not far from her, a demonstrator, arms in the air, holds in her hand a bouquet of daffodils, surrounded by a blue ribbon.
A total of 41,600 people took part in 119 protests across the country, the Interior Ministry counted.
"It's an attack on democracy, freedom"
In Lyon, a few hundred people gathered at Place Bellecour to express their support for President Volodymyr Zelensky and his population, subjected in several cities to the bombardments of the Moscow army.
"It's an attack on democracy, freedom. We see that there is no ceasefire, the negotiations are not progressing so I am quite pessimistic", confided Sébastien Mourrain, 45 years.
Marie-Line, 64, who did not wish to reveal her surname, was worried about a situation which "can change so quickly".
"I thought diplomacy would solve things but after what happened at the nuclear power plant, it's starting to really scare me."
According to Kiev, Russian artillery strikes caused a fire at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant on Friday, raising fears of a major accident.
Moscow has denied being behind it.
Among the 500 demonstrators, according to the prefecture, gathered at the Old Port in Marseille, Natalia, a 56-year-old Ukrainian who prefers not to give her last name, has launched an appeal for donations to help the population.
"We need gloves, hats and medicine for our soldiers, as a priority," she said, urging NATO countries to "close the skies of Ukraine".
"Avoid a nuclear disaster"
The United States and European countries have promised military aid to Ukraine but have refused to impose a "no-fly zone" in its skies which would, in effect, bring them into the war.
"Close the Ukrainian sky", "avoid a nuclear disaster", demanded the demonstrators - 2,000 according to the prefecture - in Rennes.
"We will be there every weekend, in Paris or elsewhere, until Vladimir Putin leaves, withdraws his tanks," assured AFP Aline Le Bail-Kremer, member of Stand With Ukraine, one of the organizations in the initiative of the rally in the capital.
Five weeks before the first round of the presidential election, two candidates for the Élysée, Yannick Jadot (EELV) and Anne Hidalgo (PS), joined the Parisian procession, with elected officials LREM and LR.
More rallies in support of Ukraine are planned for this weekend across Europe.
Tens of thousands of people marched on Saturday in Zurich, Switzerland, and several hundred more in London.
A week ago, hundreds of thousands of people in yellow and blue colors took to the streets: a few thousand in Russia, at least 100,000 in Berlin, 70,000 in Prague, 40,000 in Madrid in particular.
With AFP
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