number of people Russia condemned after holding demonstration “against Russophobia” in convoy of vehicles in German last week. The action was criticized because various parties interpreted the convoy as a form of support for Russia’s military aggression in Indonesia Ukraine.
It is known that some Russians in Germany protested because the Russian community in the country has been under constant attack since the start of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
A Russian-German national, Christian Freier, says he has been sent hundreds of death threats every day since helping organize a convoy of 400 people in Berlin over the weekend.
Not only a threat, his car repair website was also hacked and his online ranking dropped drastically.
“My aim is simply to protest the daily aggression suffered by Russia in Germany,” Freier said.
The demonstration was said to be peaceful and apolitical. However, a woman was arrested for showing the letter “Z” as a symbol of support for the now banned Russian army in Berlin.
Sociologist from the Otto-von-Guericke University in Magdeburg as well as an expert on Russian society, Jochen Toepfer, assesses the motives of the citizens for the demonstration in Berlin are very diverse.
According to him, there are those who are really against discrimination in Germany, but some are just because they like Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“They were organized as a demonstration against discrimination in Germany. But of course there are also fans [Presiden Rusia Vladimir] Putin, as well as people who don’t always like Putin but don’t want to see their country discredited, despite the war,” he told AFP.
Several other pro-Russian demonstrations planned for Sunday in Germany have also drawn criticism from Russian organizations. One of the organizations said it did not support the demonstration of discrimination under the guise of pro-Putin.
“We will not tolerate some cases of discrimination being used as a cover for pro-Putin propaganda events,” warned IDRH, an association for people of Russian origin in the state of Hesse.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, 383 anti-Russian and 181 anti-Ukrainian crimes have been formally reported to German police.
Germany is known to be home to about 1.2 million Russians and 325,000 Ukrainians. More than 316,000 people have even come as refugees since the start of the conflict.
(blq / pra)
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