Hundreds protest against Germany’s policies on Ukraine

Demonstrators in the Bavarian city of Nuremberg decried Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s decision to supply Kiev with heavy weapons

Several hundred people marched through the Bavarian city of Nuremberg on Monday, protesting against Berlin’s move to provide Ukraine with heavy arms, including Leopard 2 tanks. Participants voiced concerns that Germany could end up being dragged into a massive war with Russia as a result.

Footage shot by RT’s Ruptly video agency depicted protesters chanting slogans and beating drums. One of the banners caught on camera read “We are the red line.”

Police were observing the event, with no clashes or arrests reported.

Speaking to Ruptly, one of the demonstrators said that “Ukraine will not be able to pay” for the weapons provided by the West. He argued that it is the Germans who will have to pick up the tab.

“If we Germans get involved in a war, and I personally don’t have a war with Russia, then for us Germans, based on history, it is the worst sign that we can send,” the man told Ruptly.

According to the demonstrator, “no war must go through Germany, neither with arms deliveries nor anything else, because otherwise, Germany will be in the middle of it again.” The latter, he claimed, is just what “America wants.”

Another protester lamented that “if things go on like this” Germany may sleepwalk into a “third world war.”

The march came days after Chancellor Scholz announced his decision last Wednesday to ship fourteen Leopard 2A6 tanks from Germany’s own stock to Kiev. Berlin also said that it would authorize other countries in possession of the hardware to do the same.

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The announcement marked a major U-turn by Germany, which had for months refused to give Ukraine tanks, citing the risks of uncontrollable escalation.

In recent weeks, however, pressure on Berlin mounted both from the US and some fellow NATO member states such as Poland. Last Thursday, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius revealed that the German armor is expected to arrive in Ukraine as early as late March. Meanwhile, Scholz, commenting on the decision, explained that Berlin’s goal in the eastern European country is to ensure that Russia does not “succeed in changing borders through force.”

Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov, in turn, characterized the decision to supply Ukraine with Western-made tanks made by Germany, the US, and UK as the “direct involvement” of NATO in the conflict. In a separate statement, the official warned that Scholz’s latest move would “leave a mark” on Russian-German relations that are already at a low point. Peskov argued, however, that NATO “clearly overestimates the potential that [the Western-made hardware] is going to add to the Ukrainian military.”