Around 180 government representatives from all over the world will meet at the Bayerischer Hof Hotel for the 60th Munich Security Conference: heads of state and government, foreign and defense ministers, representatives of international organizations such as the United Nations and the European Union. While the participants sit isolated in the hotel, thousands of people take to the streets in Munich for a total of around 20 demonstrations.
Several thousand people followed the call of the “Action Alliance Against the NATO Security Conference” and gathered at Stachus at midday. They are demonstrating against the security conference and the policies of the federal government. At 2 p.m. they move across the Old Town Ring to Marienplatz. They accuse the participants of the security conference of warmongering.
Part of the demonstration leads through the pedestrian zone. People carry a long banner on which, according to organizers, are written the names of 5,000 people killed in Gaza by the Israeli bombardment. “We did this because no one talks about them,” says Dajana Sadikovic, one of the initiators. She has Serbian roots. “Don’t get me wrong, we mourn all the victims.” But there isn’t enough talk about the Palestinians who were killed, which is why she and three friends wrote their names on the banner. It is 45 meters long.
According to the organizers, the list with the names of the Palestinians killed was 45 meters long.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
The war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip is the focus of the demonstration. There are a lot of pro-Palestinian people among the participants; they form the largest bloc. From the stage and on many banners, Israel is described as an apartheid system and accused of committing “genocide” in Gaza. A speaker emphasized that the Israeli government’s repression of the Palestinian people has been going on for 75 years. The conflict did not begin on October 7, when Hamas attacked Israel and killed and kidnapped hundreds of people.
The demonstrators’ posters were also directed against the federal government.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
Another speaker with German-Israeli citizenship criticized the federal government for its policies that are too Israel-friendly. It is absurd to take to the streets against the right in Germany while Berlin supports a very right-wing Israeli government.
Lots of blue and yellow on Odeonsplatz
Two colors predominate on Odeonsplatz on Saturday in mixed weather: blue and yellow. With the sounds of his saxophone, Ukrainian musician Peter Grigorian opens the rally against the war in Ukraine at 1:45 p.m. As he plays, the place fills up more and more. Hundreds of people came, most of them with Ukrainian flags. A woman hands out ribbons in yellow and blue. “We want peace. Not just in Ukraine, but everywhere,” says moderator and organizer Valentyna De Maar.
Daria Onyshchenko Gold starts the first “Stop Russia, Stop Putin” chant. She says: “It is not easy to keep the attention of those who live in peace in Europe.” She and other activists have been demonstrating about this for two years. But the war is not over yet. That’s why she is here, why everyone is here. “We need heavy weapons for Ukraine,” Onyshchenko Gold shouts and the demonstrators cheer and clap.
One of them is a woman over 60 years old who does not want to reveal her name. “I drove eight hours here from the northern part of Lower Saxony.” She follows the regional demos there, but today she wants to show, especially in Munich during the Siko, that she doesn’t forget the people in Ukraine.
According to police, around 1,500 people came to Odeonsplatz on Saturday.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
The participants of the pro-Ukraine rally had a clear demand.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
Even before the demonstration began in front of the Feldherrnhalle, a small delegation accompanied by police had marched to Salvatorplatz. The “Ukrainian Lunch” took place in the Literaturhaus, a lunch with important decision-makers. That’s why De Maar and five other activists stood in front of it with signs before joining the demonstration at Odeonsplatz at 3 p.m. Their signs read “Arm Ukraine to win,” “Arm Ukraine to win,” or “Please imagine for a moment that your loved one could be next.”
Nastiia Klymenko took a photo of the scene with an analog camera. She visits her sick aunt in Munich, but lives in Kiev, Ukraine. Her parents live 30 kilometers from the front, her grandfather five kilometers. “We don’t want to leave Ukraine,” she says, tears welling up in her eyes.
Mayor Dominik Krause was one of the speakers on Odeonsplatz.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
Munich’s second mayor Dominik Krause is one of the speakers at the rally. He could say “that our thoughts and our solidarity are with all the people in our sister city Kiev, but also in the whole of Ukraine, who are currently fighting for these values and their freedom. And my thoughts are especially with those who are supported by Putin and were killed or injured by his henchmen or lost relatives”. Not as mayor, but as a citizen of this country, he had to say: “Especially after the expressions of solidarity from federal politicians, I cannot understand why there is always such hesitation and such fickleness when it comes to concrete help, military aid.”
Sharp words against Siko and “warmongers” at Königsplatz
Around 300 participants gathered in front of the Propylaea on Königsplatz at midday. The organization “Munich stands up”, which is close to the lateral thinkers, has called for a train through Maxvorstadt and the Bahnhofsviertel with the start and finish at Königsplatz under the motto “Make Peace”.
Sharp words against Siko and “warmongers” can be heard at the opening rally. The first speeches say “Russia is not our enemy” and there can only be peace with Russia. “We need a new European peace order with Russia, but without NATO,” was one demand. The demonstrators consider the Siko motto “Peace through Dialogue” to be disingenuous: “We need peace-keeping instead of war-fighting.”