Several controversial pro-Russia rallies were held this weekend in Germany at the initiative of the country’s large Russian-speaking community, which considers itself a victim of discrimination since the outbreak of war in Ukraine.
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The Agence France-Presse that about 800 people waving a wave of Russian flags of three colors gathered Sunday in the center of Frankfurt under the slogan “against hate and harassment.”
Local police told AFP that 600 people also gathered at the same time in Hanover in the north of the country, at the invitation of members of the Russian-speaking community. The day before, demonstrations of the same kind were held in Lübeck, in the north, with 150 participants, according to the police, as well as in Stuttgart.
In Frankfurt, protesters initially gathered near the city’s banking district, under tight police surveillance.
“I came here because for peace, children are being beaten in school because they speak Russian, this is not acceptable,” Ozan Yilmaz, 24, told AFP.
A pro-Russian rally took place to reach the city’s main cemetery and lay flowers there at the gates in memory of Soviet soldiers who died during World War II. At the head of the procession a banner can be read: “Truth and Diversity of Opinion instead of PROPAGANDA.”
“The war did not start this year, it has already started since 2014, therefore I find it not really appropriate to talk about aggression” to Ukraine by Russia,” said Sebastian, who is 25 years old.
In Hanover, where hoax demonstrators organized a convoy of cars in a single file under heavy police surveillance, a counter-demonstration gathered 3,500 people under the slogan “Support Ukraine!” , according to the police.
The day before in Lübeck, the police ended up stopping a similar convoy of about sixty vehicles for “violating the legislation”, in particular “the demonstrated support for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine as well as the use of prohibited weapons”. symbols,” the local police said.
The German authorities fear that the Russian-Ukrainian conflict will enter German territory.
Germany has 1.2 million people of Russian origin, or their families, and 325,000 Ukrainians, to which must be added the arrival of more than 316,000 Ukrainian refugees over the past month.
The proliferation of demonstrations denouncing “Russian fear” that would have won Germany a lively debate in the country, because the authorities see in them the danger of exploiting and propaganda the arguments Moscow defended in the war.
Since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, the police have recorded 383 crimes against Russia and 181 crimes against Ukraine.
