BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th April, 2023) Several thousand people are taking part in a peace march ahead of Easter in Berlin, calling for stopping arms supplies to Kiev and starting peace negotiations on Ukraine, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported on Saturday.
So-called Easter marches are traditional in Germany, with this year's weekend peace demonstrations expected to be held in over 120 cities and towns across the country.
The organizer of the Berlin march, Netzwerk Friedenskooperative (Peace Cooperation Network), estimates the attendance at up to 3,000. The demonstration began at Berlin's central quarter of Wedding.
The participants can be seen carrying flags depicting the dove of peace, as well as banners that read "US and NATO Get Out of Ukraine," "Diplomacy, Not Arms," "Against Pointless Sanctions, Cheap Energy Now," "Tanks Never Bring Peace," as well as other slogans against Europe's dependence on the United States.
A performer sang a pacifist song in Russian, German and Yiddish and some speakers called for prompt peace negotiations on Ukraine from a mobile stage before the start of the procession.
"Stop supplying weapons to Ukraine, it only escalates and prolongs the conflict," one of the speakers said, stressing that Russia's security interests should also be respected given NATO's weaponization and its expansion up to the country's borders.
A small number of pro-Ukrainian activists attempted to disrupt the march, but failed to shout down the speakers.
In the march's announcement, the organizers call against delivering weapons to Ukraine, deploying nuclear weapons at the Ramstein air base and Russian sanctions, which, as organizers say, backfired on Germany itself. They also urge the German authorities to facilitate peace talks between Moscow and Kiev, as well as to create Europe's security architecture "from Lisbon to Vladivostok."
