A crowd of several hundred strong marched to the Russian consulate in the city Sunday to show how unhappy they are with Russia’s military presence in Ukraine.
Demonstrators started in Bryant Park and marched up to Times Square before they went east on 47th Street and north on Madison Avenue.
Police stretched out the line of protesters to keep them on the sidewalks. They stretched about six blocks.
Protesters were made up of people of mostly Ukrainian descent, from first-generation Ukrainian immigrants to third- and fourth-generation Ukrainian immigrants.
They said that they’re angry that the Russian military is intervening in the Crimea this weekend.
A spokesperson for Russian President Vladimir Putin said that they are protecting Russian people in that part of Ukraine, but protesters said that that’s a lie.
The protesters said that the democracy movement that started months ago in Ukraine is not a threat to the Russian-speaking Ukrainians.
Protesters compared Putin to Adolf Hitler.
“Putin definitely needs to keep his hands off Ukraine because it’s our land,” said one person. “This land belongs to Ukraine. Ukraine Crimea is Ukraine. It doesn’t belong to Russia.”
“Putin just all the time interferes in our internal affairs as well as our foreign policies,” said another. “We’re tired of Putin’s dictatorship.”
“Only democratic and only peaceful, and we strongly believe that USA should help,” said a third.
Some protesters that NY1 spoke with are calling on the U.S. to impose harsh economic sanctions against Russia, but many NY1 spoke with said that they are so far pleased with U.S. rhetoric on the situation.
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