Everything seemed to be blue and yellow: the Euro Car Parks sign, police vans and motorcycles and hi-vis jackets worn by their passengers, but apparently the hundreds of flags held high by those gathered below Park Lane Hilton for London Stands With Ukraine in Trafalgar Square. It was not a typical anti-war crowd. With the apparent exception of Peter Tatchell, he lacked this category of experienced protesters who fill these cases. Neither Stop the War nor the CND, which both want the UK to stop equipping besieged Ukrainians, were behind the event. Instead, it was the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, who called for the protest, backed by the arguably radical European Movement (chairman: Michael Heseltine). Rachel, a middle-aged woman wearing a Roger Waters T-shirt, said it was the first show she had ever been to. “I’m from East Molesey, near Hampton Court,” he said. “It is not known as a source of protest.” She came because she was upset and terrified by what was happening in Ukraine. “It may be naive, but I hope that if Putin sees enough of the world’s protests, he might stop.” He shot a face, as if implying that this was a long shot. Navdeep Sadra, a student at UCL, had come, as he elegantly put it, “with decency.” He wanted to show solidarity with the Ukrainians and his friends in Belarus and Russia, who did not enjoy the same freedom to protest. He knew the argument, expressed by some progressive groups, that Ukraine should stop looking to the west and be content with being a neutral zone operating within the Russian sphere of influence. “It is not up to us to tell the Ukrainians what to do,” he said, listening wiser than his age. “It is up to them to decide their future.” Moving to the other end of the age scale was Melvin Bragg, standing with his wife, Gabriel. Like many in the crowd, he believes that Vladimir Putin felt courageous to invade Ukraine because the West had remained passive in its annexation of Crimea. Ukrainian mothers and children lead the way. Photo: Andy Hall / The Observer “It has put us in this trap of terror,” Bragg said, noting that the underlying threat was nuclear escalation. “He is not going to press this button,” his wife said. But of course none of us know that – and Putin knows we do not. The hope must be that the Russians themselves can resist Putin’s tactics with a strong hand. Among the protesters was Max, an IT worker holding a placard reading “Russians Against War.” He said he did not know anyone in the Russian community in London who was in favor of the war. At home, he admitted, was a different matter. “Because they do not know the truth. “They just watch TV and the information is completely controlled.” Those who know the truth face arrest and imprisonment if they act accordingly. Even in London security, Max did not want to give his last name or other identification. By the time the crowd started moving towards Trafalgar Square, it was quite inflated. Nothing like the size of some of the big demonstrations London has seen, but big enough to last half an hour. At first it was strangely quiet, a peaceful protest that took place in a walking silence. But the crowd found their voice in Piccadilly when it stopped and the chant went up: “Stand with Ukraine!” The words were repeated over and over again, and with each repetition they became louder and louder and moved, until the passers-by stopped and participated. Many of the protesters said that they wanted the Ukrainians to know that they were not alone, although on a sunny day in London, the residents of Mariupol and Kharkiv must look very far from the people who do their usual business shopping and sit outside. cafes. They will not necessarily appreciate the British gift for eccentricity and irony seen on the placards, one of which read “I’m still disgusted”, identifying its player as “Disgusted by Tunbridge Wells”. And what about Richard Gail, a gray-haired football fan who carries a huge Ukrainian flag with the Chelsea FC emblem? “I would rather be in the lower league than have an oligarch,” he said. Such concerns may seem a bit local from a cramped apartment building. They will no doubt appreciate the abundance of blue and yellow flags, even if they wish they had seen many more Londoners hold them. But then they will also know that it will take much more than waving the flag to stop this particular war.
