Ukraine Protests Around the World Intensify

People have taken to public squares and Russian embassies across the globe to protest Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and vent their anger at President Vladimir Putin.

Thousands of people from the U.K. to Australia showed their solidarity with Ukrainians who are facing an onslaught from Russia’s military after Putin announced an invasion that has already claimed many lives.

Rallies on Friday were held in dozens of cities including Madrid, London and Taipei as people called for a stronger international response to the war.

In Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, which was itself the scene of a war with Russia in 2008, thousands of people protested outside the parliament of the former Soviet country on Friday.

The crowd called for the resignation of Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, Radio Free Europe said, after he announced he would not join international sanctions on Russia.

In London, demonstrators gathered outside Downing Street, the residence of U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, for a second day running.

Protesters there urged more action from the West as Johnson announced personal sanctions against Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

In the last two days, anti-war activists have also taken to the streets of other cities including, Berlin, Paris, Stockholm, Oslo, Riga and Sydney. In the U.S. there were protests in cities including Denver, Houston and New York.

There has also been considerable anger at Putin’s actions within Russia, where protests of more than one person are banned and carry the risk of arrest.

By Friday evening, at least 1,858 people had been detained for participation in anti-war protests in 57 cities across Russia, including Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod, according to OVD-Info, a human rights project working to protect freedom of assembly in Russia.

Some of the detained protesters stood in single pickets and held posters saying “no to war, do not be silent,” “stop the war,” and other similar slogans, said Human Rights Watch.

The Russian government which had “for years…been suppressing free speech” was now “silencing all those who speak out against the war with Ukraine,” HRW Europe and Central Asia director Hugh Williamson said in a statement.

A group of more than 300 Russian NGOs has appealed to Putin to stop hostilities on the territory of Ukraine.

“We oppose the military actions that our country carries out on the territory of Ukraine. All our work is the struggle for human dignity, saving lives,” the group said in an open letter seen by Newsweek, “war is incompatible with life, dignity, or basic principles of humanity.”

Russian journalists from Kremlin-critical media outlets including Rain TV, the newspapers Novaya Gazeta and Kommersant, and the radio station Echo of Moscow, were signatories to an open letter condemning hostilities.

“War has never been and never will be a method of resolving conflicts and there is no justification for it,” the message shared on Telegram said.

Thousands of scientists and scientific journalists also published a letter expressing their opposition to the war which it said would cause a “huge loss of life and undermines the foundations of the existing system of international security.

“The responsibility for unleashing a new war in Europe lies entirely with Russia,” the letter said.

Follow the latest updates from Ukraine on our Live Feed here.