A group of Russian activists in Portugal gathered this Sunday at Batalha Square in Porto to protest against Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom they called “a murderer, a criminal and a war criminal.”
Dressed in black T-shirts with the inscription “murderer and culprit” in large letters [assassino e culpado]”, and with masks with the face of Putin with the inscription “I am a criminal war [eu sou um criminoso de guerra]”, the demonstrators, who refused to be named out of fear, said that there is a “terrorist, propaganda and censorship regime” in Russia.
According to them, for this reason they decided to live in Portugal with their families.
In an effort to “describe a position towards Putin,” some 15 demonstrators at Fonte da Batalha said that Russians, “overwhelmingly,” did not agree with Putin’s policies but accepted them out of fear.
“There really is an atmosphere of fear in Russia, you can’t speak without feeling constant fear,” he told Lusa Tim, who decided to give a fake name for fear of reprisals.
And he added: “I came to Portugal because I don’t want my children to grow up in an atmosphere of fear, propaganda and censorship.”
With regard to the military offensive launched by Russia on February 24, 2022 in Ukraine, a group of activists blamed Putin entirely.
The conflict has already caused, according to the latest figures from the United Nations, the worst refugee crisis in Europe since the Second World War (1939-1945).
The Russian invasion, justified by the president as the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security, was condemned by the international community as a whole, which responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and imposing political and economic sanctions against Russia.
In addition to this protest in Porto under the slogan “Putin is a killer”, there will be another one in Portugal, at 17:00, at the Restoradores Square in Lisbon.
Also, Russian communities in other countries, from the US to members of the European Union, are scheduled to protest for today, which marks three years since the poisoning of opposition leader and Russian activist Alexei Navalny.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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