02:55Slovakia: 'We reject the perverse plans of the US and NATO' - Thousands rally for peace in Bratislava
Hundreds of anti-NATO protesters flocked to the streets of Bratislava to join a 'March for Peace' rally for peace and against arms deliveries to Ukraine as well as Slovakia's military neutrality, on Friday.
Footage features protesters waving Russian and Slovak flags, chanting anti-war slogans and holding placards and banners, some of which read: 'We don't want Americans here, we want peace', 'NATO Satan', 'Stop NATO', 'Weapons support war scheme peace', 'Slovakia wants peace', and other. Police could be seen during the rally observing the protesters.
Carrying anti-NATO placards, protesters could be heard criticising NATO and demanding an end to sending military aid to Ukraine by holding banners such as 'Weapons support war'.
Counter-protest organised by pro-Ukranian activists couls also be seen in video.
Slovakia has been a member of NATO since 2004. The country reportedly hosts a battlegroup including troops from US, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and the Czech Republic. NATO allies have reportedly pledged a total of 48 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, so far. Germany, Poland, and Portugal are some of the countries which have supplied weapons to Kiev.
Moscow launched a military offensive in Ukraine on February 24 last year after recognising the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), claiming that Kiev had failed to guarantee their special status under the 2014 Minsk Agreements, and urging Ukraine to declare itself officially neutral and give assurances that it would never join NATO. However, Ukraine denounce the implemented Russian action as an ‘invasion’.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky imposed martial law across the country declaring a general mobilization, while the EU and US imposed various rounds of sanctions on Moscow.
02:55Hundreds of anti-NATO protesters flocked to the streets of Bratislava to join a 'March for Peace' rally for peace and against arms deliveries to Ukraine as well as Slovakia's military neutrality, on Friday.
Footage features protesters waving Russian and Slovak flags, chanting anti-war slogans and holding placards and banners, some of which read: 'We don't want Americans here, we want peace', 'NATO Satan', 'Stop NATO', 'Weapons support war scheme peace', 'Slovakia wants peace', and other. Police could be seen during the rally observing the protesters.
Carrying anti-NATO placards, protesters could be heard criticising NATO and demanding an end to sending military aid to Ukraine by holding banners such as 'Weapons support war'.
Counter-protest organised by pro-Ukranian activists couls also be seen in video.
Slovakia has been a member of NATO since 2004. The country reportedly hosts a battlegroup including troops from US, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and the Czech Republic. NATO allies have reportedly pledged a total of 48 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, so far. Germany, Poland, and Portugal are some of the countries which have supplied weapons to Kiev.
Moscow launched a military offensive in Ukraine on February 24 last year after recognising the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), claiming that Kiev had failed to guarantee their special status under the 2014 Minsk Agreements, and urging Ukraine to declare itself officially neutral and give assurances that it would never join NATO. However, Ukraine denounce the implemented Russian action as an ‘invasion’.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky imposed martial law across the country declaring a general mobilization, while the EU and US imposed various rounds of sanctions on Moscow.