Last Sunday, April 10, 2022, several pro-Russian rallies were organized in Germany. The country’s Russian-speaking community says it is being discriminated against since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine†
On April 10, about 600 people waving Russian tricolor flags gathered in the center of Frankfurt under the slogan “against hatred and intimidation”found theAFP†
As many people gathered at the same time in Hanover, in the north of the country, at the appeal of members of the Russian-speaking community, the local police told theAFP† The day before, demonstrations of the same type were held in Lübeck, in the north, with 150 participants, according to the police, as well as in Stuttgart.
In Frankfurt, protesters first found themselves near the city’s banking district, where they faced a pro-Ukraine counter-protest of about 100 people, with the two sides being separated by a heavy police cordon.
The pro-Russian demonstration began to reach the city’s main cemetery, according to organizers, and lay flowers on the graves of Soviet soldiers who died during World War II. At the head of the procession was a banner “Truth and diversity of opinions instead of PROPAGANDA”†
Car convoys in different cities
In Hanover, where pro-Russian protesters lined up a car convoy under close police surveillance, a counter-demonstration gathered 3,500 people under the slogan “Support Ukraine! †the police said.
The day before, the police in Lübeck had stopped a similar convoy of about sixty vehicles because “violations of the law”specifically “expressing support for the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and the use of prohibited symbols”according to the local police.
The German authorities fear that the Russian-Ukrainian conflict will be imported into German territory.
Germany fears instrumentalization of protest
Germany has 1.2 million people who, themselves or their families, are from Russia and 325,000 from Ukraine, with more than 316,000 Ukrainian refugees arriving in the past month.
The proliferation of demonstrations denouncing the “Russophobia” that Germany is said to have won has sparked a lively debate in the country, as authorities see a danger of instrumentalization in favor of the positions defended by Moscow in the war. .
Since the invasion of Ukraine began, the police have registered 383 anti-Russian crimes and 181 anti-Ukrainian crimes.
