A few dozen Ukrainians living and working in Eindhoven protested for several hours on Thursday against the war and Russian invasion of their country. They carried Ukrainian flags and placards with texts like Fuck Putin and Stop the war.
The protest arose spontaneously after an appeal on Facebook. The predominantly young demonstrators do not know each other, but share the horror of the war that has broken out. Hein from Eindhoven is demonstrating together with his Ukrainian girlfriend. He looks tired, he stayed up all night following the news of the Russian attack.
“I’m especially afraid of what’s to come,” he says. “I think the Ukrainians can defend themselves well, I trust that they can defend themselves well. Only it will be very bloody, I am very afraid of that, what will the future bring in Europe?”, he wonders gloomily.
That it really is war is apparent from the frightening messages Hein’s girlfriend received from her family in Ukraine today: “Men and grandmothers have left for the west. My friend’s uncle is in a bomb shelter against the bombs and they can’t away.”
“The protest, however small, is to make people aware of what is going on,” Hein says. “We want to wake people up to show that what Putin is doing is pretty sick.”
A Ukrainian protesting in Eindhoven is visibly shaken by the war: “I am disoriented and can’t believe what has happened and what I see. Incomprehensible that war has broken out in this century”. He is deeply concerned about the fate of his mother and sister who are in Ukraine. “They can’t get out of there and wait to see what happens next.”
After two hours, the protest is gradually over. But not for Hein. He goes with his girlfriend to The Hague to protest against the war there as well.