The announced Dessau rally of the “Craftsmen for Peace” initiative took place in the central marketplace of Dessau, in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt yesterday, with up to 2,000 protesters taking part. A photo in the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung report shows the marketplace filled with people.
The Mitteldeutsche Zeitung writes under the headline: “Craftsmen for Peace—Over 2,000 People Protest in Dessau against Russia Sanctions,” that this “was one of the largest demonstrations on the Dessau market square in years: According to police, 1,400 people, according to those of the organizers, more than 2,000 people protested on Sunday for peace and against, according to one speaker, the economic war against Russia, which harms the Germans themselves above all.”
Dessau’s district trade chief Karl Krökel spoke out in his remarks against the “sanction spiral,” adding that the concerned citizens don’t want to be muzzled any longer. The interests of foreign countries, he said, are valued more highly than the interests of their own people. The result is a disaster in energy policy.
The rally was called by the Anhalt-Dessau-Roßlau district craftsmen’s association and supported by the organizers of the Dessau Monday vigil as well as by the Linke and the Die Basis parties. Organizers from the German LaRouche movement joined the protesters, distributing hundreds of leaflets on why the war is happening, and how to bring about peace worldwide. The rally proceeded without incident.
Krökel announced at the end of the rally that he wants to build a nationwide “craftsmen-for-peace” network and take the protest to Berlin. “This is just the beginning. It can’t be the end if we want to succeed,” Krökel said. “We have to become more.” In addition, Krökel promoted an online petition under the heading “Nord Stream 2 instead of gas levy.”
