Germany's Easter peace marches lament war-filled world

Thousands of people around Germany on Saturday joined in some 70 so-called Easter marches to demonstrate for peace, a tradition that dates back to the 1960s.

Some 100 events are planned up until Easter Monday, according to the Bonn-based activist group Netzwerk Friedenskooperative (Peace Cooperative Network), which has coordinated the marches this year.

Easter marches are reportedly planned for cities including Cologne, Munich, Berlin, Leipzig, Bremen and Stuttgart.

Appeal to new German government

A spokesman for the group, Kristian Golla, said a focus of the demonstrations this year was an appeal to the incoming German coalition government for Germany to "become capable of peace rather than war."

"Instead of taking on new debt and spending several billions of euros on arms, disarmament agreements and clever diplomacy are needed" to end Russia's war on Ukraine and establish a joint European security architecture guaranteeing peace, he said.

The marches started on Thursday and will continue until Monday, the last day of Easter holiday season in Germany.

Golla said that the attendance has been slightly higher than in previous years.

The demonstrations also include a three-day march that started on Saturday in Duisburg and will continue until Monday through the Ruhr area via Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Herne and Bochum to Dortmund.

Gaza, US missiles

In addition to protesting against Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the buildup of weaponry in Europe in response to it, demonstrators are also voicing their opposition to the war in the Gaza Strip and the planned stationing of US medium-range missiles in Germany.

The marches are taking place under different mottos in different cities. 

In Bonn, the motto is "Yes to peace — no to combat readiness," in Kassel "Peace — disarmament — climate protection — come to the Easter march" and in Leipzig "Against rearmament and cuts to social services."

The Easter peace marches in Germany had their heyday during the Cold War in the 1980s, when hundreds of thousands of people took part.

Edited by: Darko Janjevic