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| Demonstrators, including Ukrainians living in Cyprus, take part in a protest against Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, outside the Presidential Palace in Nicosia |
In a sea of blue and yellow flags and banners, protesters around the world showed their support for the people of Ukraine on Saturday and called on governments to do more to help Kyiv, punish Russia and avoid a broader conflict.
Several hundred people marched through heavy rain in Sydney chanting โUkraine will prevailโ, while protesters in Tokyo called for Russia to be expelled from the United Nations Security Council.
Thousands of people also took to the streets in Europe, with protesters โ including many Ukrainians living abroad โ in London, Nicosia, Berlin, Athens, Helsinki, Madrid and Milan draping themselves in flags and holding โstop the warโ placards.
โYou look at the people gathered here and everybody is scared โฆ We had peace for 80 years and all of a sudden, war is back in Europe,โ said Stefan Pischel, among a crowd of some 2,500 in Munichโs Karlsplatz square.
A rally that organisers estimated to number 20,000 people was held in the Swiss capital of Bern. The Ukrainian flag flew over the seat of the city council.
Some called for the Swiss government to take tougher action against Russia and President Vladimir Putin, who said he ordered the โspecial military operationโ not to occupy territory but to destroy Ukraineโs military capabilities and capture what the Kremlin regards as dangerous nationalists.
In Istanbul, Ukrainians living in Turkey sang their national anthem and held banners with images of bloody handprints.
โMy family is in Kyiv region and they are attacking Kyiv today. I donโt know what to do, what to think. I am calling them every 10 to 15 minutes,โ a protester who gave her name as Victoria said.
โI hope the whole world will โฆ just stand up and do something to protect our families.โ
โNOT ALONEโ
Hundreds of people demonstrated in the square in front of the United Nations headquarters in Geneva, carrying signs such โMake Ukraine a member of NATO nowโ and โSay no to Putinโ.
โIโm here because Iโm extremely ashamed for my country of birth,โ said Valery Bragar, a native Russian who has lived in Switzerland for 15 years and is now a Swiss citizen.
The protests come on the heels of other demonstrations around the world in the past days. In Latin America, protesters joined rallies on Friday in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Peru, chanting โLong live Ukraineโ.
In Russia too, anti-war campaigners have defied warnings from the authorities to voice their anger. Police on Thursday detained more than 1,600 Russian protesters. Read full story
In Sydney, some speakers demanded the government expand sanctions against Moscow and ban Russian citizens from visiting Australia, while others called for NATO to step in.
โI want more economic sanctions on Russia, I want military help for Ukraine,โ said Katarina, a protester who gave only her first name. โI want more action, more concrete action and less words. Itโs too late for diplomacy right now.โ
Several hundred Russian, Ukrainian and Japanese protesters gathered in the busy Shibuya shopping district in central Tokyo, many with their children and holding Ukrainian flags, chanting โstop the warโ and โstop Putinโ in Japanese and English.
โI just want to say, โPutin stop this, regain your sanityโ,โ said Hiroshi Sawada, a 58-year-old musician.
In India, some of the anger was directed towards NATO and the West.
โThe kind of aggression we are witnessing in Ukraine has been forced by U.S. through NATO and also the Russian military forces who have entered Ukraine. Both are responsible for this situation,โ student activist Neha said at a protest in New Delhi.
REUTERS
