German Easter peace marches draw tens of thousands

Tens of thousands participated in the traditional peace marches held throughout Germany over the Easter weekend, organizers reported on Monday.

Events had been held in more than 100 locations, the Bonn-based Peace Cooperative said.

Demonstrations in Frankfurt, Hamburg and Nuremberg were planned for Easter Monday.

The three-day march through the Ruhr Region that began in Duisburg was due to end in Dortmund on Monday.

Police put attendance at the Stuttgart march on Saturday at around 3,000, with 1,000 counted in Berlin.

Network spokesman Kristian Golla said strong participation indicated a broad-based wish for a politics of peace. "We call on the German government to at last back diplomacy over rearmament," he said.

The focus this year was on a call for ceasefires in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Participants also protested against the stationing of medium-range missiles in Europe and the reintroduction of conscription in Germany. Many speakers were young people opposed to conscription.

The marches are organized regionally by trade unions and leftist and Christian groups. They have declined in scope since the heyday of the peace movement in the early 1980s when hundreds of thousands participated.