Bordeaux, Montpellier, Paris, Clermont-Ferrand…
The demonstrators were also a thousand to have gathered in Nantes, around 350 in Clermont-Ferrand, 300 in Grenoble, Saint-Etienne or Bordeaux, 200 in Chambéry or a hundred in Puy-en-Velay.
In Bordeaux this Saturday.
AFP
In Bordeaux, the rally was held in the presence in particular of the PS candidate for the presidential election Anne Hidalgo. Placards demanded the exclusion of Russia from the SWIFT international banking system or denounced Europe as a “slave” to Russian gas.
In two cities in the south of France, Marseille and Montpellier, a few hundred people marched to cries of “Stop War, stop Poutine” or “Nato, act” (NATO, act). In the Southwest, rallies also took place in La Rochelle and Mont-de-Marsan. In Switzerland, a thousand demonstrators gathered in Geneva, opposite the main headquarters in Europe of the United Nations, demanding strong measures against Russia. Other meetings are scheduled for the day in Switzerland and France.
In Strasbourg, headquarters of the Council of Europe, 3,100 people according to the prefecture gathered with Ukrainian flags and placards proclaiming “Putin killer” (“Putin killer”) or “Stop the war”.
On the Place de la République in Paris, 5,000 demonstrators, according to the Prefecture of Police, chanted “Putin assassin”, “Putin terrorist”. Like Liliya Gryshuk, a 29-year-old Ukrainian living in Paris, who decides: people in France “didn’t expect it (the war). We were right: Putin is trash. “And no one is going to help us?” asks the young woman.
In Paris, Place de la Republique.
AFP
Even in Russia, in Moscow
More than 3,000 people who demonstrated in Russia against Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine have been arrested in three days, the specialized NGO OVD-Info reported on Saturday.
Since the start of the invasion on Thursday, “at least 3,052 people have been arrested”, including 467 on Saturday, OVD-Info said. These demonstrations have multiplied across Russia despite their ban by the authorities.
Around the world
At the end of the morning in Rome, a rally at the call of trade unions and associations thus brought together more than a thousand people, around a podium decorated with the inscription: “Against the war”. The demonstrators brandished signs: “Make love, not war”, “We want peace”… Already the night before, thousands of people had held a torchlight march to the Colosseum.
“Putin, murderer! “, “ Banish Russia from Swift “, could one read on banners. Placards showed Russian President Vladimir Putin with a bloodstained hand on his face, or comparing him to Hitler with the words: “Can you recognize history when it repeats itself? »
30,000 people in Tbilisi
But it was in Georgia, the former Soviet Republic, that the mobilization was particularly important on Friday evening: nearly 30,000 people marched in Tbilisi, waving Ukrainian and Georgian flags and singing the anthems of the two countries. The war, which according to Kiev has already killed at least 198 civilians, has caused a feeling of deja vu in this country, which was also the victim of a devastating Russian invasion in 2008.
“We have compassion for the Ukrainians, perhaps more than other countries, because we have experienced Russia’s barbaric aggression on our soil,” said Niko Tvauri, a taxi driver.
30,000 people gathered in Tbilisi, Georgia.
VANO SHLAMOV/AFP
“The whole world must resist Putin who wants to restore the Soviet Union,” said a French teacher, Meri Tordia, 55. “Ukraine is bleeding, the world is watching and talking about sanctions that cannot stop Putin. »
In Athens on Friday evening, in front of the Russian Embassy, more than 2,000 people gathered at the call of the Greek Communist Party and the radical left party Syriza. Traditionally pro-Russian, these parties have denounced “the invasion of Ukraine by Russia” and an “imperialist war against a people”.
” Anger “
These demonstrations of solidarity are not confined to Europe: in Montreal, Canada, dozens of people did not hesitate on Friday afternoon to face a snowstorm to protest under the windows of the Consulate General of Russia. “Putin, take your hands off Ukraine,” they chanted in chorus. “I am against this war,” said Elena Lelièvre, a 37-year-old Russian engineer. “I hope this is the beginning of the end of this regime.”
Hair hidden under a green cap, Ivan Puhachov, a computer science student at the University of Montreal, said he was “terrified” by the situation, pleading for the sending of additional military equipment to his country, where his wife lives. family.
Some protesters held a covered portrait of Vladimir Putin in a bloody hand, others carried Ukrainian flags that fluttered in the wind. In recent days, other demonstrations have also been organized in Halifax, Winnipeg, Vancouver and Toronto.
“The last thing I imagined was that the Russians were going to come and kill my people”
In Argentina, nearly 2,000 people, including Ukrainian immigrants and Argentines of Ukrainian descent, demonstrated in Buenos Aires on Friday, demanding in front of the Russian embassy “the unconditional withdrawal” of the troops of the “assassin” Putin.
Wearing a Ukrainian flag, dressed in traditional costumes, carrying signs in Spanish, Ukrainian or English saying “Stop the war” or “Putin get your hands out of Ukraine”, the demonstrators chanted slogans in Ukrainian, such as “Glory to Ukraine, glory to its heroes” and sang Ukrainian and Argentine anthems.