Budapest, Hungary – Thousands of people formed a huge peace sign in Budapest's Heroes' Square to protest against the invasion of Ukraine and to express their compassion for the innocent victims of the war. Greenpeace condemns the war launched by President Putin and demands that the Russian president withdraws troops immediately.
The highlight of the event was speeches from Patrizia, a 13-year-old Ukrainian girl and Natasha of Russian origin, both living in Hungary. Standing on stage together to speak for peace, they embraced each other at the end of their speeches. Orchestrated by a choir of 100, the crowd sang together the traditional canon Dona Nobis Pacem ('Give Us Peace!').
13-year-old Patrizia in her speech, said in her speech:
'I'm half Ukrainian, half German, and was born in Budapest. My friends are all of different nationalities and we speak different languages. But despite our differences, we are friends, and we respect each other'
"Children die in wars. But we want peace, and a hope for a happy future'
Natasha, whose family lives in Moscow, said in her speech:
'We Russians don't want war. I'm devastated to realise that Russian soldiers are fighting against our neighbour, a country where so many of us have friends and relatives'- "Our real enemy is the machine that tries to force an idea of an enemy on us. We can see now what devastation this can bring. We, Ukrainians, Russians, Hungarians and all nations are primarily citizens of the Earth. Our planet is our shared home, and war cannot be allowed here. We want a world where there's no place for fear.'
János Bálint Mező, MD of Greenpeace Hungary, giving the opening speech on stage, said
'We deeply condemn the war launched by Russia. President Putin must withdraw his troops with immediate effect and end the war that has caused the suffering and death of innocent people'
'We must stand together for a future dominated not by bloody conflict but by co-operation. Where we resolve our crises together instead of fighting for energy. We must end all wars financed by oil, coal, and gas.'
