German far-left groups lead Berlin 'peace' demonstration

Thousands of protesters gathered on Thursday to protest the German government's stance on the war in Ukraine.

Supporters of the demonstration, under the banner of "Never Again War," held the protest on German Unity Day, the yearly holiday commemorating the 1990 reunification of Germany. 

Protesters held up banners calling for diplomacy instead of war and demanding a halt to arms deliveries to Ukraine.

Some demonstrators also expressed solidarity with people in the Gaza Strip, with placards calling for an "end to the occupation terror."

Organizers said that "well over 40,000 people" attended the rally, while police declined to offer an exact estimate but said they numbered "in the low five figure range."

Berlin's police said early on Thursday evening that several protests and demonstrations including this one "have concluded without disturbance," reporting no major incidents, unrest or arrests.

Wagenknecht calls for talks with Putin, no more US missiles in Germany

Notable figures in German politics addressed those gathered at the end of the march. 

Chief among them was Sahra Wagenknecht, the leader of the recently-formed Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) that split off from Germany's socialist Left Party and who recently became a major player in the east, capturing a significant share of the vote in elections in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg.

Wagenknecht called for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in order to bring about an end to fighting in Ukraine.

"I find it so annoying when people always come at us with their big morals saying you can't talk to Putin for moral reasons," she said.

Wakenknecht also accused the government in Berlin of blindly following Washington.

"We are once again on the verge of US medium-range missiles being stationed in Germany. My God, this is madness," she said. "We must not go further in this direction. What is happening is damn dangerous."

Wagenknecht was referring to plans to station US medium-range missiles in Germany, defended by Chancellor Olaf Scholz as a deterrent. 

Social Democrat Stegner says 'we cannot leave the peace movement to the populists'

The movement also lined up a pair of more moderate speakers and political veterans, the former deputy leader of Bavaria's conservative CSU, Peter Gauweiler, and longstanding Social Democrat (SDP) foreign policy commentator Ralf Stegner. Stegner is still a member of the Bundestag parliament, Gauweiler left the chamber in 2015.

Ralf Stegner complained after his speech about parts of the crowd, who had heckled him. 

"Jeers and boos from some demonstrators as I spoke of a Russian war of aggression and of Ukraine's right to self-defense only serve to emphasize that we cannot leave the peace movement to the populists — the Social Democrats belong there," he said, as most members of his party steered clear. "Politics is not a fair weather game." 

Gesine Lötzsch of the hard-left Die Linke party also addressed the final rally at the Berlin Victory Column. "We see today that the peace movement is alive," said Lötzsch.

Movement advocates halt of weapons exports to Ukraine, Israel

The "Never Again War" movement says it wants Germany to halt all weapons exports to Ukraine and to Israel and to work towards cessations of fighting in the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Isolated members of the demonstration even held placards accusing NATO of "conducting genocide" in eastern Ukraine and in Gaza.

The group rejects arms deliveries to Ukraine and Israel, while also warning, without evidence, about an impending military draft in Germany.

They also reject the stationing of additional US missiles in Germany, planned for 2026. 

They urge the government to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Ninety-four countries are signed up to this 2017 treaty, with no NATO members or nuclear powers party to it. It's not to be confused with the much older Treaty of the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which Germany has signed and ratified, along with almost all UN member states.

Germany is not a nuclear power in its own right, but is widely understood to have had a small number of US warheads stationed in the country for decades.

kb,jcg/msh (dpa, AFP)

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This article earlier had a false figure on the number of countries which signed the Treaty of the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which has now been corrected. We apologize for the error.