‘Russia out, down with Putin!’ World marches in solidarity after invasion of Ukraine

Thousands have taken to the streets from London to Tehran to denounce Russia’s assault on its neighbour, Ukraine.

Pro-Ukraine demonstrations erupted across the world at the weekend as thousands took to the streets from London to New York to Tehran to denounce Russia’s assault on its neighbour.

And more than 3000 Russians have been detained for holding anti-war protests since Vladimir Putin launched an invasion of Ukraine last Thursday.

“In the last 3 days, at least 3052 people were arrested,” the independent OVD-info monitor that keeps tracks of arrests during protests said on Twitter late on Saturday.

It said 467 people had been arrested in 34 cities on Saturday alone.

On Saturday, rallies were held in cities across the world to join the chorus of condemnation and urge an end to the bloodshed.

In Switzerland, thousands of people gathered across the country, including about 1000 outside the UN European headquarters in Geneva. Demonstrators draped in Ukraine’s national colours of blue and yellow flocked to the Broken Chair, a large sculpture symbolising the civilian victims of war.

The protesters demanded tougher actions from the government, which has so far avoided ­imposing strict measures, choosing instead to stick closer to its traditional “neutral” stand. Swiss-based Russians joined in to show their opposition to the war, holding signs saying “I am Russian”.

In Russia’s neighbour Finland, thousands of people gathered in the capital Helsinki shouting “Russia out, down with Putin”. About 3000 people gathered in ­Vienna, with homemade placards bearing slogans such as including “Stop the War” and speeches from Austria’s Ukrainian community.

More than 1000 demonstrators answered the call of trade unions and NGOs in central Rome, huddling around a podium bearing the words “Against War”.

Thousands of people had taken part in a torchlit procession to the Colosseum on Friday night.

Mr Putin was the march’s main target as banners caricatured him as an assassin with bloodstained hands and compared him to Adolf Hitler with the words: “Can you recognise when history repeats ­itself?

We’ve always been close to the Ukrainian people,” said Maria Sergi, a 40-year-old Russian-born Italian. “Our feeling of powerlessness is huge.”

In the southern French cities of Montpellier and Marseilles, hundreds marched on Saturday chanting “Stop war, stop Putin”, while further protests were also expected in Paris.

About 1000 anti-war demonstrators were also out in force in Barcelona on Saturday, according to local police. Dimitri, a Russian designer living in Barcelona, said he feared sanctions would set ­Russia’s development back. “We’re all going to suffer,” the 37-year-old said.

In Britain, hundreds of protesters headed to Russia’s embassy in London, with some defacing the street sign of St Petersburg Place opposite the embassy with fake blood. And about 50 people in Tehran assembled by Kyiv’s ­embassy to Iran, some holding candles and Ukrainian flags and chanting against the war and Mr Putin. Protests were also reported in Israel, Estonia and New York on Saturday.

In Georgia, almost 30,000 ­people hit the streets of Tbilisi on Friday night, waving Ukrainian and Georgian flags and singing both countries’ national anthems.

Russia’s attack on Ukraine ­resonates strongly in Georgia, a fellow ex-Soviet republic that suffered a devastating Russian ­invasion in 2008. “We have sympathy for the Ukrainians, perhaps more than other countries, because we’ve ­experienced Russia’s barbaric ­aggression on our soil,” said Niko Tvauri, a 32-year-old taxi driver.

Teacher Meri Tordia added: “Ukraine is bleeding, the world watches and talks about sanctions that won’t stop Putin.”

More than 2000 protesters gathered outside the Russian embassy in Athens on Friday night after an appeal by the traditionally pro-Russian communist and left-wing Syriza parties.

AFP