Thousands of people joined this Sunday the traditional march for peace in perugia a assisiin the center of Italywhich this year was dedicated to UkraineAFP journalists observed.
Around 50,000 people, according to the organizers, walked the more than 20 kilometers between the two cities, in a festive atmosphere with numerous rainbow flags, under the slogan: “Stop, the war is crazy.”
“Every day that passes, the confrontation becomes more violent and the war more inhuman and blind, destroying any residual space for peace. For that reason, we say that it must stop immediately,” the organizers said on their website.
“It is not too late, I am convinced that for this war, in this situation, there are still possibilities, possible avenues for dialogue, for negotiations. We must try them all, I do not have the impression that the arms race, supplying more weapons still on one side or the other, be the solution,” religious Marco Moroni, a guard at the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi.
“I expect what we all expect. A world in peace. A world in peace and a world that allows us to think about the other major problems in the world, such as the climate crisis, and the future of young people,” he commented. her part Lorenza Bartolotti, a 73-year-old retiree from Ravenna.
“I felt the need to go out to participate in this march, in view of everything that is happening in Europe, it seemed natural to me to do so, almost a duty,” explained Genoa lawyer Luigi Montarsolo, 67.
A few hours before the parade arrived in Assisi, the Pope Francisco asked once again, on the occasion of Orthodox Easter – which is celebrated this Sunday – a truce in the fighting in Ukraine and that attacks against “depleted populations” cease.
He also had a few words for the “participants in the extraordinary march from Perugia to Assisi in favor of fraternity and peace”, whom he “thanked” for their involvement.