Annual Easter marches held across Germany under banner of peace dove
Peace activists marched through several German cities during the traditional annual Easter marches on Saturday, against the background of plans by Berlin and governments across Europe to massively increase spending on rearmament.
At the larger demonstrations, such as in Berlin, the Ruhr area, Wiesbaden and Kassel, initial police estimates suggested that several hundred people gathered in each location.
Central themes included the demand for disarmament and a nuclear-weapon-free world, as well as the end to wars, such as those in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip.
"The Easter marches this year are particularly directed at the new government, demanding that Germany becomes capable of peace instead of being war-ready," said Kristian Golla from the Peace Cooperative Network, referring to the incoming coalition of conservatives and Social Democrats.
He said this is particularly true for the course in Ukraine policy: "The path to peace for the people in Ukraine does not lead through more and more weapons, but through negotiations," he said.
In some cities, the turnout at the Easter marches this year was larger than recently, according to the Peace and Future Workshop in Frankfurt. However, the Easter marches are now significantly smaller than at the peak of the movement in the early 1980s.
Criticism of some positions of the German peace movement
In Berlin, however, some people also gathered with Ukraine flags for a counter-demonstration. They held signs with slogans such as "Democracy must be defensible!" and "False pacifism kills."
Green Party leader Franziska Brantner also expressed criticism of certain calls to demonstrate at the Easter marches.
"We share the desire for peace, absolutely," she told the weekly edition of the Berlin-based taz newspaper. However, with regard to the opposition to arms deliveries to Ukraine, which is defending itself against a full-scale Russia invasion, she added: "What bothers me about such calls to demonstrate is that being left-wing means being anti-imperialist, standing by the attacked, and not the aggressors."
Events in more than 90 cities
The Easter marches are organized locally by trade unions, left-wing and Christian groups, as well as peace groups.
According to various networks that coordinate the protests, there are expected to be actions in more than 90 cities over the Easter weekend, most of them on Holy Saturday.
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