It’s a slap in the face to the war refugees. While Putin’s troops are murdering, his supporters parade through Berlin with waving flags. A shame for the capital.
For many it will have been close. They escaped with great difficulty and made it from the Ukraine to Berlin. They have fled Russian tanks in their fields, Russian artillery shells plowing up their residential areas, Russian infantrymen killing their neighbors. They fled from Russia’s influence. And Russia’s flag. Only to be confronted again with the flag of their attackers, having just got off the train.
While new war refugees arrive hourly at Berlin’s main train station, Putin’s fifth column flies the flag in the capital on Sunday, in the truest sense of the word. With a motorcade across Berlin, waving Russian flags, loud music – and with the frowned upon “Z” symbol, a sign of support for Putin’s war of aggression. Among other things, past the main train station, the hub of the refugee streams in Germany
Any other day it would have been a shame. That Sunday was a tragedy. While the approximately 900 participants in the motorcade were shouting loudly at the school with the motto “No propaganda in the school – protection for Russian-speaking people, no discrimination,” the reports about the massacre in Bucha became known. Civilians were tied up and treacherously murdered in the small Ukrainian town. Human Rights Watch speaks of “clear evidence” for executions by the armed forces of the Russian Federation. A conceivably bad Sunday for white-blue-red flags waving in the German capital.
Berlin: “Car parade of shame”
The Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, not exactly known for his reserved words, loudly accused the approval of the car demo on Twitter, spoke of a car parade “of shame”.
Of course, freedom of expression is a valuable asset in Germany. Demonstrating freedom is also. But did this really have to be here? The “Z” symbol and support for Putin’s war of aggression is banned, and with good reason. It was clear from the start that the pro-Russian motorcade would not take this ban into account. That’s exactly how it happened.
What remains are questions. Why wasn’t such a show of force, such a slap in the face of the victims, forbidden? Why was a public platform for crimes and Putin’s war propaganda allowed in Berlin? And why, Ms. Giffey, was there still no apology for that?
–
