80 People Join Amnesty International Luxembourg's Anti-War Protest

About 80 protesters joined Amnesty International Luxembourg in showing their solidarity with the Ukrainian people at a rally outside the Embassy of Russia on Thursday 24 March 2022 - exactly one month after Russia began its military invasion of Ukraine.

Accompanied by violinist Vincent Soubeyran, the activists hung sunflowers (Ukraine's national flower) on a grid to express their solidarity with the population of this war-torn country. Then they observed a minute of silence in memory of the victims of war.

At the end of the rally, Olivier Pirot, Director of Amnesty International Luxembourg, presented the Russian Embassy with a petition with nearly 500 signatures calling for an end to Russian aggression and the protection of the civilian population in Ukraine. Internationally, this petition has already garnered more than 340,000 signatures. It remains open on the website of Amnesty International Luxembourg: https://www.amnesty.lu/nos-petitions/il-faut-mettre-fin-a-lagression-et-proteger-la-population-civile-en-ukraine/.

"We are here today to express our outrage at the Kremlin's flagrant violation of international law and disregard for human life. The Russian invasion has created a human rights catastrophe and each new day of war destroys more lives and forces more people from their homes. This act of aggression must stop immediately", said Mr Pirot.

With this rally, the Luxembourg branch joined Amnesty International's Global Day of Action.  Activists mobilised worldwide on this date to demand that Russia put an end to its invasion of Ukraine. Amnesty International recalled that this invasion is "an act of aggression contrary to international law, vector of a multitude of human rights violations".

Since the start of the invasion, Amnesty International has documented indiscriminate attacks that have killed or injured civilians, possible unlawful attacks that have destroyed or damaged civilian infrastructure, including hospitals and schools, and the use of prohibited cluster bombs - all of which may constitute war crimes under international law.