As the 15th BRICS Summit kicked-off in Johannesburg on Tuesday, a small group of pro-Ukraine activists including Amnesty International South Africa, Ukrainian Association of South Africa and the Helen Suzman Foundation picketed a few kilometers away from Sandton Convention Centre where some of the world leaders are gathering.
The group is calling for an end to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and are calling on the Russian authorities to stop violating people’s right to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression in their own country, Ukraine.
Ukrainian Association of South Africa Gauteng Representative Lesya Karpenko urged the leaders attending the summit to find a solution to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
“We are here to deliver a message, to voice out to leaders of BRICS countries and guests in the summit to demand (Russian President Vladimir) Putin to immediately stop the war and withdraw all military forces and activities from Ukraine,” she said.
Karpenko said Ukraine is a sovereign country and deserves justice. She said Putin should return children his troops have allegedly captured from Ukraine.
“We also want to deliver the message that Putin must return the children and then return grain imports that were stopped by Russia. Currently grain is not being delivered. People don’t have bread on the table because Russia also bombs our grain storages. Whatever was harvested is just bombed for nothing,” she said.
The protesters were also not happy for being forced to picket in Innesfree Park about three kilometers from the Sandton Convention Centre where the BRICS Summit is being held, blaming the authorities for making last minute changes to their plans.
“We wanted to picket in front of the Sandton Convention Centre and we applied for a permit to picket there but at the last minute we were told that due to road closures and security measures we cannot picket there.
“They said we can picket at this park which is very far away, we were sent here like aliens not to destroy the image of welcoming Russia officials,” she added.
Amnesty International South Africa Campaigner Sibusiso Khasa said they were being censored by being placed far away from the gathering.
“It does interfere with our freedom of expression because we can’t get our message directly to the leaders who are gathering there so we have to rely on people like you as the media to help us get the message to them.”
Putin is not part of the delegation attending the Summit to avoid an International Criminal Court warrant for his arrest over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and spurious allegations that he kidnapped Ukrainian orphans.
But Chinese President Xi Jinping, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Democratic Republic of Congo Prime Minister Sama Lukonde and other heads of state arrived in South Africa on Tuesday for the three-day summit expected to conclude on Thursday.
