Several thousand people gathered on Saturday followingnoon at Place de la République in Paris to protest once morest Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and to say “no to war in Europe”, noted an AFP journalist.
“We will be there every weekend, in Paris or elsewhere, until Mr. Putin leaves, withdraws his tanks,” Aline Le Bail-Kremer, a member of Stand With Ukraine, told AFP. at the initiative of the rally in the capital.
“It’s very important to be here,” said a protester, Bernard Arnaud, 47, blue suit and yellow shirt in Ukrainian colors. “Mr. Putin is so unpredictable. I will come back as much as possible”, he added in the middle of the signs “Stop War”, “Putin assassin” or “Save Ukraine”.
“Despite the suffering, we are going to win, we are sure of it,” said Nataliya, a Franco-Ukrainian, who did not wish to give her name to protect her son who remained in her country. “We are proud of their courage, their determination”.
Rallies in support of Ukraine are planned this weekend in more than a hundred cities in France and many European capitals, on the tenth day of the Russian invasion.
Some 25,000 demonstrators were expected throughout France, anticipated a police source.
Associations such as SOS-Racisme and political parties such as LREM, LR, EELV or the PS called to join the Paris demonstration.
The environmental candidate for the presidential election Yannick Jadot and his socialist competitor Anne Hidalgo have planned to go there.
In Creusot (Saône-et-Loire), several hundred people gathered in the morning at the call of the Collective for Peace, in solidarity with the Ukrainian people. They were 500 in Saint-Etienne and as many in Roanne (Loire), according to the police.
Last weekend, hundreds of thousands of people in yellow and blue colors marched across Europe: a few thousand in Russia, at least 100,000 in Berlin, 70,000 in Prague, 40,000 in Madrid in particular.
