In Berlin, Paris or even Prague and Warsaw, thousands of demonstrators protested Thursday, February 24 in many countries against the invasion of Ukraine, as in several cities in Russia, where more than 1,500 people were arrested.
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In front of the Russian embassy in Berlin, a demonstrator holds up a sign which reads: “Stop this madness, save life, no more lies.” Many others wear Ukrainian colors.
“Everyone should come here today and support Ukraine and say the war must stop”, told AFP Olga Kupricina, 32, originally from Kaliningrad and living in Germany since October. Ukrainians participated in another Berlin rally, at the foot of the mythical Brandenburg Gate, but also in Munich, in the south of the country.
Vor dem russischen Konsulat in München sammeln sich gerade hunderte Menschen, um gegen die Invasion Russlands in der Ukraine zu demonstrieren. pic.twitter.com/fFoT39ZA8Z
— Dominik Krause (@dominik_krause) February 24, 2022
In Paris, several hundred people also gathered in front of the Russian embassy, including several candidates for the presidential election in April such as the ecologist Yannick Jadot or the former minister Christiane Taubira.
Hundreds of people had already gathered Thursday at midday in front of the Russian Embassy in Paris. “We are here to help the citizens of Ukraine, those who are still there”said Teresa Voytanovska, a 42-year-old Franco-Ukrainian.
The Ukrainian anthem now resounds on the Place de la République in Paris in support of the country attacked today by Russia. Many Ukrainians from Paris are there. “Donbass is Ukraine! Crimea is Ukraine!”, shouts the crowd… #StandWithUkraine #Paris pic.twitter.com/TApbAlOuNR
— Antoine Comte (@AntoineCOMTE) February 24, 2022
Rallies were also held in major French cities. In Marseille (South), a city twinned with Odessa in Ukraine, around fifty Ukrainians and a few elected officials denounced the Russian invasion.
They were 150 in Rennes, while a hundred people also demonstrated in Strasbourg behind a large banner “We stand with Ukraine” (We are with Ukraine). In the Alsatian city, three buildings including the town hall will be illuminated in the colors of Ukraine “to show solidarity with the Ukrainian people”.
In Georgia, the scene of a Russian intervention in 2008, thousands of people demonstrated in the main cities. “Putin attacked not only Ukraine today or Georgia years ago, but the very idea of freedom”believes in Tbilisi Keti Tavartkiladze, a 61-year-old mathematics teacher.
A rally in support of #Ukraine is taking place in the capital of #Georgia. Georgians remember the consequences of #Russian aggression. pic.twitter.com/FgoBgEGci0
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) February 24, 2022
In Prague, where Russian tanks intervened in 1968, several thousand people demonstrated in Wenceslas Square, then marched to the Russian Embassy, carrying a large caricature of Hitler and Putin.
In Warsaw, a country bordering Ukraine, a Russian flag was burned by a demonstrator in front of the Russian embassy. Rallies were organized in parallel in Beirut and Tokyo. In Dublin, The Hague and Amsterdam, hundreds of people also took part in rallies on Thursday in front of Russian representations.
In Istanbul, around 40 people gathered Thursday morning in front of the Russian consulate to sing the Ukrainian anthem and hold up portraits of the Russian president, his face covered in blood.