Thousands of Germans demand a negotiated exit to the war in Ukraine

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BERLIN, 8 Apr. (DPA/EP) –

Thousands of protesters took to the streets of 70 German cities this Saturday to demand negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, taking advantage of the traditional Easter pacifist marches.

The Cooperative Network for Peace has highlighted the marches in cities such as Berlin, Bonn, Bremen, Hanover, Leipzig, Munich and Stuttgart, in which they also called for the cessation of the export of German arms to Ukraine, as well as to renounce the rearmament of the Armed Forces. German navies.

According to estimates by the organizers, some 2,000 people have participated in Berlin, another 1,200 in Hannover and several hundred in Bremen, Munich, Cologne, Mainz and Leipzig. According to the police, in Berlin there were 1,500 participants.

In the call for the Easter March in the Rhine-Ruhr region, it has been advocated that the German government and the EU should promote “peace negotiations without conditions”. The delivery of tanks and other heavy weapons that intensify and prolong the war has also been refused.

“Although Ukraine has the right to defend itself, more weapons, and heavier ones, are not a solution, but rather feed this war,” they have argued from Bonn. On banners and posters in Berlin one could read phrases such as “Peace, heating and bread instead of weapons, war and death” or “NATO is the aggressor. Peace with Russia”.

“For us, an immediate ceasefire and the start of negotiations are the best alternative to new arms supplies and escalation to the point of a nuclear exchange,” co-organizer Torsten Schleip said from Leipzig.

Schleip has stressed that the criticism goes in all directions: “We are not a demonstration that supports (Russian President Vladimir) Putin.”

Throughout the country, more than 120 actions were planned from Thursday to Monday, according to the Red Cooperativa por la Paz.