Africa-Press – South-Africa. Two civil society groups protested at Innesfree Park in Sandton, where the BRICS summit got underway on Tuesday.
The summit is an international relations conference attended by the heads of five member states, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
Twenty-three candidates have applied to join BRICS, and an almost similar number have expressed an interest, among them being Argentina, Ethiopia, Iran and Saudi Arabia.
There was a strong police presence at the park as the Ukrainian Association of South Africa (UAZA) and Amnesty International South Africa sang struggle songs with the help of a set of drums.
They carried posters which read “Free Ukraine”, “No to Putin’s Imperialism”, and “Return the Children”.
Speaking on behalf the of UAZA, Lesya Karpenko said they were protesting with Amnesty International South Africa for Russian President Vladimir Putin to call off the war in Ukraine.
Putin, facing an international warrant of arrest, decided not to attend the summit.
“Putin wants to completely destroy Ukraine as an independent country.
“Today, Ukraine, a country that gave up its nuclear weapons, is standing against this invasion without the defences it gave up for the promise from the international community.
“The Russian war is imperial and aims to destroy Ukrainian identity and to keep Ukraine as a colony,” she added.
Karpenko said President Cyril Ramaphosa had on Sunday said the key pillars of foreign policy included promoting human rights, peace and stability as well as strengthening trade and investment ties with other countries.
Karpenko said they were calling on world leaders attending the summit to demand that:
According to the civil society group, 19 358 children were deported from Ukraine to Russia and as of 13 May, 13 000 were located.
However, of that number, only 371 were released to their families and caregivers in Ukraine, it said.
Meanwhile, about 30 people protested on the other side of the park, with their placards reading: “We need intervention” and “Abiy is a murderer”.
Abiy Ahmed is the prime minister of Ethiopia.
Thomas Alean from the I’m Amhara movement, an Ethiopian civil society group, said their protest was against the government of Ethiopia.
“The Ethiopian government has asked to be a member of BRICS. We are saying this request should be declined as they have committed a crime against humanity in the country [Ethiopia].
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