Thousands protest in Hesse against war
Created: 03/06/2022Updated: 03/06/2022, 17:40
Thousands of people demonstrate in Frankfurt against the Russian attack on Ukraine.
© Hannes Albert/dpa
The willingness to help the refugees from Ukraine is still great.
Thousands have again taken to the streets to demonstrate against Putin.
An interest group complains about hostilities against people of Russian origin.
Frankfurt – Thousands of people demonstrated again in Hesse over the weekend against the Russian attack on Ukraine.
According to the police, around 4,000 people gathered at a protest by the Citizens' Movement Pulse of Europe at Frankfurt's Hauptwache.
With blue and yellow flags, the participants protested against Russian President Vladimir Putin, who launched a war of aggression against Ukraine on February 24.
On posters they advocated, among other things, further arms deliveries to Ukraine.
There were no incidents at the demonstration.
Since Friday evening there have been protests against the Russian attack in many places in Hesse.
The President of the Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau (EKHN), Volker Jung, described the war at a service on Sunday as a "dark abyss of human aggression".
"The suffering of the people who are directly affected is horrible," said Jung in Hofheim.
He prays for prudence and wisdom for those who have to decide now, said Jung.
He prays for the attacked and threatened people in Ukraine and for the war to end quickly.
The fundraising campaign "Hope for Eastern Europe" by the EKHN and the Evangelical Church of Kurhessen-Waldeck (EKKW) is also affected by the war.
Since 1994, the campaign has been intended to promote social structures, diaconal services and the development of civil society.
The bishop of the EKKW, Beate Hofmann, said on Sunday: "Hope for Eastern Europe, for me that also means at the moment: We want to remain in contact, not let ourselves be made into enemies, not drawn into a spiral of hatred and violence. "
Meanwhile, people of Russian origin in Hesse complain about hostilities in the face of the war.
"It spills over into their everyday lives in the form of verbal attacks, aggression and even violent assaults," said the interest group of Germans from Russia in Hesse (IDRH).
"That worries us very much," said IDHR Managing Director Albina Nazarenus-Vetter on Saturday in Frankfurt.
Families of late resettlers from the former Soviet Union and Jewish emigrants are affected, as are students and employees.
The Hessian Social and Integration Minister Kai Klose (Greens) called for people with a Russian origin not to be excluded.
"Despite all the justified anger and sadness about Putin's illegal war, we mustn't forget: Putin and his regime are not the Russian people." There is never any justification for excluding people because of their supposed origin.
And many Hessians with a history of Russian migration “are part of the movement against this aggression and feel for the fate of the Ukrainians”.
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The wave of willingness to help those affected by the war also continues.
The Partnership Germany-Ukraine/Moldova association announced on Sunday that around 1,000 donors brought blankets, pillows and sleeping bags, as well as baby supplies, batteries, power banks, flashlights, bandages, medication and non-perishable food over the weekend.
The Hessian Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund sent a first team to the Polish-Ukrainian border on Saturday to assess the need for help for refugees.
"The team of four is now looking at where it makes sense to help and what is needed," said the second state chairman, Marcus Schönbach, in Froschhausen in southern Hesse.
Previous missions have shown that it makes no sense to send relief supplies to crisis regions on suspicion.
Because of the corona pandemic, larger quantities of disinfectants, different masks and corona tests are on board the van.
dpa