'We all need to be united to defeat this evil': Leeds anti-war protestors put on show of solidarity with Ukraine

The protest - organised by Leeds CND and the Feminist Anti-war Resisters - saw people assemble on Briggate at 1pm before marching to Leeds Town Hall for "peace, de-escalation and Russian withdrawal".

The event was also supported by Stand Up To Racism, Unite Community and Leeds For Europe.

Jonas Marvin, of Yorkshire and Leeds CND said: “The first and foremost reason why we’re here is to express solidarity with the Ukrainian people who are witnessing and experiencing horrible conditions due to the Russian war and imperial aggression that’s happened over the last couple of weeks.

“We want a negotiated settlement and we want a Russian withdrawal. We want the conflict to de-escalate, we want this Government to accept the Ukrainian refugees into this country and we want peace.”

Polina Merkulova, of Feminist Anti-War Resisters, took part in the protest and addressed the crowd on the Town Hall steps.

She said: “We’re also showing solidarity towards the Russian people who are protesting now and being arrested as we speak.

"There are thousands of arrests up to date so there will be more.

“We also want the UK government to start taking more action to stop this war and welcome refugees into the UK.”

Richard Wood and partner Danielle Barker-Wood joined the protest along with their children Erica, 5, Meredith, 8, and three-year-old Gabriel.

Richard said: “We’ve just come here today because obviously we think that we need to raise awareness of what’s going on.

“It’s obviously very horrible, there’s not much we can do outside of what the Government’s doing but I think we’re just showing a sense of solidarity really with what’s going on there.”

Sat on her dad’s shoulders, daughter Meredith said she was there to protest about the war in Ukraine and it was “not nice to have wars”.

Colin Archer, of Leeds CND, was the first to address the crowd gathered outside Leeds Town Hall.

He says: “Peace to the heroic people of Ukraine. Putin, withdraw your troops now.”

Next to speak at the anti-war protest is Richard Wilson, of Leeds for Europe.

He told crowd: “We need to be going harder with the sanctions to end this peacefully. Our Government needs to do more.

“We all need to be united to defeat this evil.”

A message was read out on behalf of Labour MP Richard Burgon, who represents Leeds East.

In the statement, he said: “We need to raise our voices to demand global action and demand a world free of war.”

Steve Johnson, of Unite Community, said: “We stand shoulder to shoulder to the brave protestors in Russia.”

Leeds was not the only place to have seen protests today, with hundreds also gathered in central London to protest his invasion of Ukraine.

Some members of the crowd, including expats from Russia, Poland and Lithuania, wept as they voiced support for people affected by the war.

Campaigners gathered outside the BBC's Broadcasting House to wave signs saying "Russian troops out" and "No Nato Expansion".