Russian police arrested nearly 1,400 people in several cities on Thursday for taking part in anti-war demonstrations in Ukraine.according to the human rights NGO OVD-info.
This organization affirms that at least 1,391 people were arrested in 51 cities, 719 in Moscow, where the AFP witnessed dozens of arrests.
(Due to the public interest that the events between Russia and Ukraine arouse, all our coverage of that invasion and related actions will have free access for all readers of EL TIEMPO)
(Minute by minute: Attention: explosions are heard in Kiev; Russia attacks by air and ground)
Russia has strict legislation to control demonstrations that usually end with massive arrests. The Russian authorities threatened this Thursday to repress any “unauthorized” demonstration related to “the tense situation in terms of foreign policy.”
Numerous activists called on the population on social media to defy that order and take to the streets, after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his offensive against Ukraine in the early hours of Thursday.
(Also read: Ukrainian President regrets that his country was left ‘alone’ against Russia)
About 2,000 people gathered in Moscow’s central Pushkin Square and about 1,000 in the former imperial capital of St. Petersburg, according to AFP journalists.
Protesters in Pushkin Square shouted “No to war!”
A young man shouted as he was arrested: “Who are you fighting? Stop Putin.”
The Russian invasion of Ukraine takes place at the same time as an unprecedented crackdown on the opposition in the countrywith many of its leaders killed, detained or forced into exile.
Oppositionist Alexei Navalni, imprisoned since January 2021, said in court, during a new trial that began last week, that he rejects the invasion.
“This war between Russia and Ukraine is being waged to cover up the robbery of Russian citizens and to divert attention from the problems that exist within the country, from the deterioration of the economy,” he said, according to a video published by the opposition channel Dojd.
(Keep reading: Why is Russia invading Ukraine? Here’s what you need to know)
More protests in the rest of the world
But Moscow was not the only center of the demonstrations. Thousands of people took to the streets of New York, Madrid, Berlin, Paris, Warsaw and The Hague this Thursday to urge Russian President Vladimir Putin to put an end to the “madness” of the war that he unleashed with the invasion of Ukraine that has already left dozens dead and more than 100,000 displaced.
In New York, some 200 people walked from Times Square to the United Nations headquarters worried about the fate of their relatives in Ukraine.
This is the case of Kateryna Bieliayeva, 34, who every so often checks on how her parents, doctors, who decided to stay in Chernihiv, in northern Ukraine, near the border with Belarus and Russia, are doing.
“Part of the region is already occupied” and the fighting continues, she tells AFP in anguish.
(Also: The drama of a Colombian mother and her 3-year-old daughter to leave Ukraine)
“I would like to do something, but I feel powerless. (Protest) is the only thing I can do,” said this Ukrainian nationalized American.
In Berlin, in front of the Russian embassy, a banner called: “Stop this madness, save life, no more lies.” Many of the participants were Russians residing in Germany. “Everyone should come here today and support Ukraine. Say the war must end,” Olga Kupricina, 32, a native of Kaliningrad who has been living in Germany since October, told AFP.
In Paris, hundreds of people also gathered in front of the Russian embassyincluding several candidates for the presidential elections in April.
(You can read: Video: Russia attacks Kiev with ballistic missiles)
In Warsaw, the capital of Poland, which borders Ukraine, a protester burned a Russian flag outside the Moscow embassy.
In Prague, thousands of people demonstrated in front of the Russian legation, where a banner with the images of Hitler and Putin was displayed with the date 1938-2022, referring to the year of the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany.
In Madrid, Oscar-winning actor Javier Bardem was among the fifty or so people gathered outside the Russian embassy.
In Dublin, The Hague and Amsterdam, hundreds of people also took part in rallies Thursday in front of Russian representations.
There were also protests in Beirut and Tokyo.
AFP and EFE
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