Easter in the sign of peace: thousands of desolation and dialogue

Easter in the sign of peace: thousands of desolation and dialogue

On Saturday, April 19, 2025, numerous Easter marches took place in Germany, in which the participants vividly took up for peace and disarmament. Around 100 events were planned throughout Germany, such as PNP . Central topics of these demonstrations concerned the war in Ukraine and the conflicts in the Middle East. The Easter marches were organized by peace initiatives, unions as well as Christian and left -wing groups.

Several hundred people mobilized in different cities. According to the police, around 1,800 people took part in the rallies in Berlin, while 800 people could be seen in Munich. Around 200 participants were counted in Erlangen and Würzburg, while 110 people took to the streets in Aschaffenburg. The low participation in Augsburg was particularly striking, where the police only registered five participants.

thematic focus and demands

The Easter marches not only focused on the disarmament, but also called for a nuclear weapons -free world and the end of the current wars. The spokesman Kristian Golla sharply criticized the federal government and demanded that Germany become compatible with peace, as Süddeutsche . This concluded a rejection of new debts for armaments projects and a call to disarmament contracts and diplomacy. There was also a counter -demonstration in Berlin, where supporters of Ukraine flags and slogans such as "Democracy must be defensive!" presented.

Despite the sometimes increased number of participants in some cities, the Easter marches of the past few years are smaller than in the 1980s when hundreds of thousands of people mobilized against the NATO double decision. The peace movement, which came up during this time, has contributed to changing the political landscape of Germany sustainably and is one of the roots of Bündnis 90/The Greens.

continuation of the activities

The activities in the context of Easter marches have not yet been completed. Further events are planned by Easter Monday, including great demonstrations in cities such as Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg and Dortmund. As part of the Easter March in Duisburg, the largest peace demonstration in North Rhine-Westphalia, a total of around 2,000 participants are expected for the three days. The motto there is "peace-capable instead of war!", Which again underlines the core of the chosen topics, as Deutschlandfunk reports.

The current mobilization shows that there is still interest in peace issues despite a resistance to the armaments and war on society as a whole. The Easter marches that have been taking place since the 1960s are a constant indicator of the social pulse in times of crisis.