Germany's Central Berlin witnesses protest against weapon supply to Ukraine

Thousands of people protested in Central Berlin against supplying weapons to Ukraine on February 25. The German protestors have asked the German government to de-escalate the crisis by negotiating with Vladimir Putin instead of supplying weapons to the warring nations. This protest comes after the one-year war anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine war which started on February 24, 2022. One of the factors which have helped Ukraine in defending its territory from the Russian invasion is the supply of arms and ammunition from the west. 

Protest in Berlin

On Saturday, February 25, 13,000 people participated in the protest at the Uprising for Peace, at the Brandenburg Gate, according to the police, reported the Guardian. However, the organisers claimed that more than 50,000 people have taken part in the protest. The demonstrations were organised by Sahra Wagenknecht, a renegade member of the Links party, and veteran feminist campaigner Alice Schwarzer. Such protests have been witnessed in other cities in Germany. “The start of a citizens’ initiative” and a “starting signal for a new, strong peace movement in Germany”, said Wagenknecht, while delivering the speech at the demonstration against supplying weapons to Ukraine. 

Further, she also shared that people have united to voice against the government of Olaf Scholz and his foreign minister Annalena Baerbock over their decision to provide Ukraine with weapons. According to the Guardian reports, during the protests, the demonstrators carried banners that read, "Helmets today, tanks tomorrow, the day after tomorrow your sons,”  “Diplomaten statt Grenaten (Diplomats instead of grenades)”, “Stop the Killing” and “Not My War, Not My Government”. During the protests,  loudspeakers were playing peace songs such as John Lennon’s Imagine and Nena’s 99 Red Balloons.

“We are like the slaves to war and the warmongers,” said Norbert, a former soldier, who didn't want to share his identity. Further, he blamed the financial powers which are behind the war and had no interest in it ending. 

Germany had no right to participate in another war, after the second world war, said the former soldier. “We should follow his example of nonviolent resistance to bring an end to this madness, ” said one of the protestors who was holding a large portrait of the Indian revolutionary Mahatma Gandhi.