With expressions of dismay as they watched news updates on mobile phones, and worried about family members in cities near the Russian border, about a hundred Ukrainian citizens and supporters gathered from early Thursday morning in front of the headquarters of Vladimir Putin's consulate in Barcelona, on Avinguda de Pearson, in the leafy uptown district of the Catalan capital.
Dozens of people gathered in front of the Russian consulate held Ukrainian, European and Spanish flags and did not tire of repeating chants against the war and against president Putin, whom they accuse of being "crazy”and an “occupier”. The rally took place without incidents, but the tranquility was broken at times by the chants of the protesters and also by insults against people of Russian nationality who entered and left the consular headquarters due to the business they had to do there. Meanwhile, inside the consulate, despite the protesters' chants and the news arriving from Russia, the administrative service still continued to operate normally.
Mossos police guard Russian consulate in Barcelona
Outside the consulate, which was protected by Catalan police officers from the Mossos d'Esquadra, some of the Ukrainians present, resident in Barcelona, explained where they have relatives and the contact that they were able to have with them during the morning, despite the communications failures and power outages that are occurring in the cities closest to the Russian border.
Mossos officers outside the Russian consular headquarters in Barcelona / Guillem RS
A Ukrainian family which has lived in Barcelona for four years called for European Union and NATO intervention to end the Russian occupation and assert that Putin is not interested in their country. "A war against the free world has begun this morning, it's a world war," they said. "There have been other wars against Ukraine, this is different today. And Europe must stop it," they insisted. The war against them, they stated, has already lasted for eight years, with different military forces and attacks on civilians at the border.
A Ukrainian resident in Catalonia at the protest outside the Russian consulate in Barcelona: "Already over 20,000 people have died in eight years of war. "
"Ukraine has not died, our glory and liberty have not died, destiny will smile on us, fellow citizens," they sing heartily. It is the country’s national anthem, which serves as morale among the protesters in front of the Russian consulate in Barcelona.
Between chants and insults to Putin, news keeps arriving. A girl broadcasts live the situation that a friend of hers explains to her by video conference, from Kharkiv, large Ukrainian city near the border with Russia. Another of the Ukrainians tells the group that their government claims to have shot down enemy planes and the cheers of joy are not long in coming.
Protesters chant "Putin, fascist" and "Russia, occupier" outside Russia's consulate in Barcelona
A Russian protests against the war
Of all the flags seen in front of the Russian consulate in Barcelona this morning, only one was Russian. It was carried by a woman, Judith Tharan, who has been living in Barcelona since 1998 after fleeing Russia and who is opposed to the offensive launched this morning by her country and president Putin.
A Russian woman, opposed to the war, in front of the headquarters of the Russian consulate in Barcelona / Guillem RS
"The propaganda may say that Russians are in favour of the war, but it's not true. Putin is a dictator and has only 30% of the support of the people of our country," she says. "It is a war that does not have the support of the Russian people," repeats Tharan, who has not stopped giving explanations to her fellow protesters, who are officially, the enemies of her country since this morning, but she, like them, is against the war.
Some of the Russians entering the consular offices had small confrontations with the anti-war Ukrainian and Russian protesters, but without any signficant incident.