Several thousand people gathered at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin for a rally for negotiations with Russia in the Ukraine war. Left-wing politician Sahra Wagenknecht and women’s rights activist Alice Schwarzer called for the demonstration. On Saturday, shortly before the start of the rally, the police initially spoke of around 5,000 participants and a continued strong influx, so far there had been no special incidents. The organizers said that it is estimated that at least 10,000 people were already there.
A dpa reporter reported a massive influx and large crowds on both sides of the Brandenburg Gate – despite the sleet and cold. Some participants had flags with doves of peace with them.
As of 2:00 p.m., 10,000 participants were registered with the police. “But it cannot be ruled out that there will be more,” said a spokesman. The inflow is probably also weather dependent. The police were on duty in the face of gatherings for the ongoing Russian attack on Ukraine with 1,400 forces, as she wrote on Twitter. Several smaller counter-demonstrations with mostly double-digit numbers of participants were also registered in the vicinity of the Brandenburg Gate.
What does the “Manifesto for Peace” say?
On the website for the “Rebellion for Peace” rally, participants were called on to refrain from flying party and national flags. “Far-right flags, emblems and symbols have no place at our rally,” it said.
With the rally, Wagenknecht and Schwarzer want to underpin their demands for dealing with the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. Two weeks ago they published a “Manifesto for Peace” in which they called on Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) to “stop the escalation in arms deliveries”. The women’s rights activist and the left-wing politician call for a ceasefire and peace negotiations with Russia. Critics had accused Wagenknecht and Schwarzer of being “naive”.
Scholz and Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens) also made it clear that they did not share the conviction. One has to understand “that the Russian President currently only accepts one form of negotiations, namely that someone capitulates unconditionally and he implements all his goals,” said Scholz. On the Internet, however, more than 640,000 people declared their approval of the “Manifesto” by Saturday afternoon.
