About 1,500 people – and thus significantly fewer than the organizers expected – demonstrated on Saturday afternoon in downtown Munich under the motto “Make peace” against arms deliveries to Ukraine and the continuation of the war that was raging there. The rally on Odeonsplatz and the subsequent demonstration were organized by the “Munich Stands Up” alliance, which is attributed to the lateral thinker scene. 5000 participants were registered.
If the protest of the movement was previously directed against state measures to protect against corona, it is now aimed at the attitude of the federal government in the Ukraine war. On the fringes of the Munich Security Conference in February, the power-peace demonstration had also attracted forces from the right-wing political spectrum. When the leader of the meeting, Pascal Schmidt, welcomed some of the participants who had apparently traveled from further afield on Saturday, he said: “We’re really nationally positioned again.”
The accusation that the alliance “Macht Frieden” is positioned openly to the right was put into perspective by Munich doctor Ingrid Plantelt right at the beginning. “We are on the brink of nuclear war,” asserted the woman, who was presented as a long-time peace activist. “Can we still afford subtle discussions of demarcation?” She demanded “not to fall into false defensive reflexes” and not to allow herself to be divided: “Yesterday we were scorned as corona deniers, today as Putin understanders.” In view of the predominantly gray and silver-haired demo participants in front of her stage, Pflanzenelt turned a long way back into the past: “We need a big peace movement again like in the 1980s. We have to be as broadly positioned in society again.”
It was fitting that most of the participants waved blue flags with doves of peace or waved wooden doves on sticks, just like in the old days. The old slogan could also be read again and again on posters: “Create peace without weapons.” Only the Western governments were asked to seek negotiated solutions to end the war in Ukraine.
As the most prominent speaker, Jürgen Todenhöfer, a former member of the Bundestag for the CDU, also condemned Russia’s war of aggression against its neighboring country, which violated international law, but that sounded more like a mandatory mention than real outrage. In any case, the reaction of the audience showed that they preferred to hear how he attacked the USA, its politics and its war crimes. He received applause for the sentence: “The greatest threat to world peace is not Russia and China, it is the USA.” Even when the 82-year-old Todenhöfer attacked the federal government and described its members as vassals and puppets of the USA, he was reliably cheered.
Criticism of Russia was obviously unwelcome at the rally. In any case, two women with a banner saying “Putin go home, run” (meaning: “Putin go home and do it quickly”) soon cleared the space in front of the Feldherrenhalle after they had been approached by other demo participants. According to initial findings, there were no major incidents.