Thousands of people demonstrated for the second day in a row in several European cities to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In Brussels, about five thousand people, according to the police, took to the streets, waving Ukrainian flags.
The demonstrators chanted, “Russians, go home,” and raised banners reading “Stop the war” and “Europe, be brave and act now.” Some of the demonstrators carried yellow roses with blue ribbons.
In Toulouse, in southwestern France, the twin city of Kiev, protesters marched behind a large blue and yellow banner with drawings of Russian President Vladimir Putin showing him covered in blood, calling for “an end to the criminal Putin.”
In a move they wanted to signify the Ukrainian airspace, the demonstrators raised a huge piece of blue cloth, calling for “the closure of the country’s airspace” and for “the protection of Ukraine’s airspace.”
In northern France, some 5,000 people gathered in support of Ukraine in front of the Caen memorial to the Allied landings in Normandy in 1944.
The Ukrainian flag was raised, and several participants wore blue and yellow, according to an AFP correspondent.
One banner read: “People of Ukraine, we will not abandon you! Democracy, freedom, peace.”
In Spain, demonstrations were held in Madrid, Barcelona (northeast) and other cities to demand an end to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Ukrainian flags were raised in Plaza Catalunya in Barcelona, where about 800 people gathered, according to the authorities, holding banners that read: “Close the skies, not your eyes,” “NATO, protect the skies of Ukraine,” and “Stop Putin, stop the war.”
“They attack, destroy and kill civilians for no reason,” said Natalia Prudovska, a 45-year-old Ukrainian lawyer who has lived in Spain for eight years.
“It’s terrible, we can neither sleep nor eat. I think all Ukrainians feel this way. But the situation of my people in Ukraine is much worse.”
In Belgrade, hundreds of people rallied to express their support for Ukraine, two days after a demonstration in support of Putin and the Russian invasion of Ukrainian territory.
“We want to save Belgrade’s face because what happened on Friday (that is, the pro-Russian rally) is really shameful,” mathematician Zdravko Jankovic, 46, told AFP.
In Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia, hundreds of people gathered Sunday to express their support for Ukraine.
On Saturday, hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets of several cities, including Paris, New York, Rome and Zurich, to demand an “end” to the war and to protest against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.